Come the Devil to Pay
by myshadowspirit
Summary: "Sakura's only plan was to stay by his side... Then she didn't know what she would do. She thought perhaps once Sasuke was executed, she herself would just no longer exist."
1. Chapter 1

Part I

They had finally succeeded. Konoha village, the finest producer of ninja in all the lands, had finally erased her emotions. She thought it had been impossible. Hell, anyone would have thought she would have been a lost cause, as much as she tried to conceal it from those who didn't need to know. So many years. So many years had given her immense practice in hiding her feelings but hiding them and erasing them all together were two very different things.

She had been a much bigger project. Maybe even a bigger project than Naruto himself. He felt too much. But he was stronger than her. She had always been weak, and that's why she had struggled with this so much.

She thought that she perhaps was somewhat mad. Perhaps she had something of a personality disorder. It wasn't that uncommon. Lots of people with personality disorders were good at hiding it. Though she wondered how many of them where aware that something was wrong with them. She thought that maybe she was blessed that she was aware of her own weaknesses, as best to try to remedy them herself as much as she could manage. But other times she realized it was much of a curse to realize you were bat shit crazy and could do nothing to stop it.

A girl spilling a few tears from time to time was accepted of an ordinary human, but not a ninja. A child may cry, but not one of them, no matter the age. She had sobbed in front of too many people, the enemy, her comrades, pleading and begging for mercy. Weakness. She had always been weak.

Naruto was blind to such behavior and was perhaps the only one that didn't judge her for it. Her superiors were silent about it, for they didn't need to speak of her faults, just their disapproving looks made it clear that she was a mistake. The enemy never showed any mercy. She had to be rescued by her team numerous times.

She did a pretty good job at hiding it. As she got better at hiding it, the people around her assumed that she had only matured, grew out of her weaknesses, but no, her obsession had in fact grew out of control, just nobody knew it. It helped that her natural intelligence and ability to learn her job overlooked any breakdowns that she could occasionally have. She knew her stuff. She was Konoha's best medical ninja in practice. She was possibly better than Tsunade at this point, but no one mentioned so while the Sannin still breathed. Not only had she mastered her chakra control to work tirelessly for months on numerous patients without much rest or sustenance, but she was a quick thinker, steady with her hands, and had a much better percentage of success than anyone else in the village. She knew the human body like her favorite book, each and every cell like the letters of well-loved words and quotes. She could perform operations without any chakra if needed be, and what she was really good at was keeping people alive, if they wanted to be alive or not.

She had her doubts about her profession. Any day, she thought for sure Kakashi would come and tell her she was no longer needed, that she wasn't meant for this line of work, that she should just stay home. Even though she had past the academy, she had seen others dismissed just as easily. She knew, if she hadn't been as good as she was, her behavior wouldn't have been tolerated for nearly as long as it had, but she did her job, and no one said anything.

Keep the prisoners alive. That was all she had to do. She didn't need to think about it. She didn't dare to think about it.

Valuable information could be gathered from a prisoner, even if dead. The Ninja body was unique to each one, each with its own techniques and types of chakras. Specialized body parts could be taken. If the prisoner was still alive then even more valuable information could be gathered from their minds; plans of ambush, information of the enemy, the technique on the different jutsu themselves. Most prisoners would die before giving up such information. She was to save the suicidal.

Keeping the captive subdued and unconscious was the best way to prevent them from harming themselves, but sometimes, one would slip through the procedure and awake. She oversaw then saving their life. Usually it was poison. She knew every poison and could detect with just a graze of her fingertip. She checked on all of them routinely. Blood wasn't usually spilled but there was the odd man that would try to slit his own throat or wrists. She knew all their blood types and could supply a blood transfusing to anyone that may have lost too much blood before being found and healed. Keeping them alive had been what finally killed her emotions, she thought.

Or It had all been because of Sasuke Uchiha.

She knew, when still a Genin, the village thought that it was a good thing, or what good could come out of something so terrible, that Sasuke Uchiha had deserted. It meant that she would no longer pine for him. She would never cry for his pain, beg for his survival, think unclearly whenever he had something as simple as a scratch. He didn't show much interest in her, but it didn't matter. He was too much of a distraction. If he were gone, if he had finally succeeded in breaking her heart, she would grow to hate him, and then move on.

But it had only gotten worse.

She had never fancied anyone else over all the years, but that wasn't taken to be unusual. Most ninjas did not pursue relationships since their own mortality rate was so high. Sexual relationships were still common among the ninja, as the act, no matter who it happened to be with at the time, was the only sort of comfort that one of them may have been able to find during their short lives. This was kept under hush and no one talked about it. But she wasn't even participating in that. As a no-nonsense type of person, it wasn't odd. She had always been a stickler for rules, and she wasn't one that was going to be fooling around with people when there were better things to be done, such as training or taking up missions. She kept her mind busy, reading her medical books, training her physical chakra strength in the training fields, working at the hospital or signing up for missions. Her desperation to keep busy was what made her take up her new job.

She had moved out from her parents' house as soon as she had enough money saved to start paying her own rent. It was just one less pretense that she had to put up with. Her parents were easy to lie to, but they had heard her crying when she was still weak. They had once seen the harrowed look on her preteen face and remembered and worried. She didn't necessarily recognize her own loneliness as she was trying so hard not to think about it. She wanted to think of nothing.

During the brief times of peace were the most painful parts of ninja life. There were no living prisoners, no missions, and the few work she could find at the hospital were simple things. Ninjas smile during happy times, but they are never happy. She always chose to work with the children. They were the easiest to lie to. They accepted her smiling face, bandaids and candy. Watching their tears made her feel like she didn't have any. Besides, she didn't want her face to look like theirs, ugly and pitiful over something as insignificant as a scratched knee.

The nights were the worst. She could only hope that there was some emergency that would call her over to the hospital, but if there wasn't, simple skinned knees could wait until the morning.

Ino had given her a vibrator once for her birthday. She had said that every woman should own one. Ino had told her it would protect her from the curiosity of men. Ino never did have a very good outlook on men. Ino hated men. She thought their only purpose was for procreation, and perhaps that small split second of pleasure they could give on fleeting nights. As children were not ideal for any of them, the curiosity desire was a danger more than anything. That's what the vibrator was for. It took out the need for men all together.

She didn't hate men as Ino did. She knew there were ones out there who were respectful, honorable and loved just as much as anyone. But such people she was not interested in finding. She didn't long for that, she had thought. She didn't even think she had much desire for sex either but thought that was perhaps wrong of her, so she tried it anyway.

Orgasm did relieve stress. For that split second. Enough to want to try it again right after. She could see perhaps how one could be addicted to it, like drugs or alcohol, but the social aspect of finding a partner was too much of a hassle for her, so the vibrator she stuck with, and the vibrator was what she had during those peaceful nights without emergency.

There was never ever any peace. One could not simply place a vibrator on one's clit and except to get off easily and instantly. It was something mental she realized, to get off, you had to be turned on. To turn yourself on, alone, you have to be imaginative.

Her mind was a terrible place indeed. She hadn't seen him since she was a teenager. She hadn't known him since she was 12, but he was the one she thought of during those nights, as much as she knew it wasn't helping her.

It was always violent thoughts. She couldn't think of him in any other way. Though the whole image of Sasuke Uchiha was too much. No, if she thought about him entirely she would begin weeping again, so she thought of parts of him. The corner of his mouth with a rude sneer, the muscles on his back as he raised his arm to kill, the Sharingan in his eye spinning, always spinning. She fantasized him coming to her window and killing her. How dare she think of him this way? Thinking of his pale skin, speckled with blood, blood that was probably from someone on her side of the battle, that was what made her release her pleasure against the vibrator.

She never truly thought she'd see him again. Every time a new war started between the territories, she thought perhaps she would hear of his whereabouts. The other regions wanted him dead, but so did Konoha. Eventually he would find his downfall. He had no friends, no allegiance, no one to protect him. Someone would eventually kill him.

There was talk of him from time to time, of a heinous deed that he committed. He had killed a few Kage at this point, laying the villages in disorder and ruin. Sometimes this was helpful to Konoha. Sometimes this was not.

There was always that fear that she may run across him on one of her missions, fear or thrill. She figured if he did turn up again, she would be killed. Either he would finally succeed in killing her, or she would make a fatal mistake. She wouldn't be surprised if her own teammates killed her to prevent her from hindering the mission further.

But no. None of that happened at all. The unthinkable had happened. Twenty-one years after his desertion, Sasuke Uchiha was captured alive.

The village practically rioted, other nations poking their noses into the matter, all wanting him dead as soon as possible. Why was he being kept alive? All blame had gone to Naruto instantly as he was Hokage at the time. The talk was that perhaps it was Naruto keeping the mass murderer alive.

Naruto had changed over the years. They all had, but she thought it was most noticeable in Naruto. Naruto young, had the energy of the sun, and the faith of his morals stronger than the pull of the universe, or so she had originally thought. Now Naruto didn't seem like anything more than just simply tired. She knew he had given up on Sasuke half a decade ago. He was very much surprised on what to do now. He had a family, Naruto. He married Hinata and had children. The talk was that he had grown soft, but she knew better. He was just tired.

"What should I do?" He once asked her. Sometimes they would drink together, on peaceful nights in his office when she had nothing to do and was too afraid to be left alone with her vibrator. In the back of her mind she knew that Naruto never had times where he had nothing to do. This companionship was solely for her wellbeing.

Naruto stared at her, his cheeks hanging from his skull. She would liked to have used her chakra to heal the blood vessels around his eyes, but without him actually sleeping the procedure would be pointless the next day. His expression changed while watching her, realizing that he had asked the wrong question even though she had not responded.

"You know what I have to do."

She blinked innocently at him, holding the bottle of sake they were sharing in her hands. They never drank in public together. Only alone in the office, to make sure no gossip or talk would go around. Naruto being a married man made their friendship difficult sometimes, she thought bitterly, pouring him another glass. There had been times that she had thrown herself at him, sopping drunk. But Naruto never took her. He was one of those honorable types of men.

"He would be put to death," he said needlessly, still watching her, looking for a reaction, the sign of her weakness. But her emotions were dead. She said nothing. Naruto was used to her saying nothing. "I'm afraid." He didn't elaborate on what he was afraid of, as he drank the sake that she had poured. "Please say something."

"What?" They continued to stare at each other. She suddenly realized what he was asking for.

Her permission.

She almost scoffed but her face was too numb and drunk to succeed in it fully. She had no say in this. She had no place in politics or law, but Naruto was still looking at her expectantly. She wondered if he would do it, if he would simply free Sasuke just because she said she wanted him to. She was tempted to say it, just because of how absurd it was. Naruto would do anything for her.

Naruto was still in love with her. She had always known that he was in love with her. He had offered to marry her, if only to keep an eye on her wellbeing because he knew she was a lost cause. Only after she had told him no, that he married Hinata. Hinata had been his distraction, like medicine had been hers.

"It's alright," she finally said, feeling a sudden pity for Naruto.

"I want him to have a fair trial," Naruto admitted. "I know it doesn't change anything." He looked away from her and rubbed his face hard. "I just feel like I have to, but at the same time it's just prolonging the inevitable and I don't want... to be going through that. And we don't have much time. I'm afraid," he said again. She wondered if Naruto ever admitted to being afraid to Hinata. She felt a vile sort of flattery that made her want to slam Naruto bare ass against his glass window. She probably could if she used her chakra. She was physically stronger. But Naruto was cleverer. She wouldn't even be able to meet the three-foot distance between them, she was so drunk.

So was Naruto. He was crying.

* * *

Naruto sent her home at 2:30 in the morning. He offered to have someone walk her home. He didn't walk her home himself, for obvious reasons. She had declined and was just about to pull out her vibrator from the bed stand drawer when there was a tap on her window. She looked up to see an ANBU on her window ledge. "You're needed," was all he said, and she jumped at the opportunity.

It wasn't a hospital emergency. She should have known that with an ANBU coming to her. She kept up with him, though her vision was still fuzzy from intoxication. There was a coffee machine at the hospital that she was going to try to stop by before the surgery, but they weren't going there. They were going to the prison.

She knew the ANBU knew she was drunk. Once arriving, he had given her a hard stare, as if wondering on the decision of bringing her here. He must have thought he had no other choice because he said nothing and had her continue onward.

It was Sasuke.

He had already killed five people within a second of gaining consciousness. Ten more had died trying to restrain him. She had the thought, wondering, who's bright idea was it to keep Sasuke alive? She didn't think it was Naruto being stupid. But then again, he was afraid, and maybe so had been everyone else, like Sasuke Uchiha simply could not be killed.

Sasuke Uchiha had been on his way, willingly, to Konoha when he was captured. It was probably the only way to ever have brought him here. His reason for coming was most likely to kill Naruto since Naruto was now Hokage and that's what Sasuke did; kill Kage. It was all of Konoha's forces that took Sasuke down, but Naruto did the final blow. She hadn't seen it. She was thought of as too much of a risk in seeing Sasuke, so she was held in the back to tend the wounded. She had healed Naruto at the end as well. Naruto had not been wounded but the amount of chakra that he had used to strike Sasuke had nearly killed him. She had known if Sasuke had succeeded in getting a hit on Naruto, there would have been no Naruto left for her to heal. No killing blow was made by Naruto, but she had speculated that Naruto had tried with the amount of chakra he had used.

Unconscious, Sasuke was giving enough drugs to possibly kill him instantly, to keep him down, but yet he still awoke, now. One flick of his eyelid and a man was caught under his genjutsu, committing suicide for him. Anyone that came near him died without a touch.

"KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED!" she heard someone say as she got closer to the commotion. The wall that led to the prison surgical room was blown through, and she briefly saw a half-formed Susanoo arm flit through her vision before it flickered out. Among the bodies and rubble, when she finally laid eyes on him, she did not know what she was seeing.

Inhuman, she had thought, because he wasn't fully human. He wasn't a full person. He was literally missing parts of his body. He was squirming on the ground like a bloody worm. One arm was missing all together, while the remainder one had been secured by bounds that he had wiggled free from. He was using the arm mostly to support himself up, as his legs seemed to be useless. Blood flowed freely over his face as the one side of his head was missing the flesh and she could even see the gleam of skull in the light. He was drenched in blood, that she knew was his, bleeding and bleeding in his struggle. By all means he should be dead, she thought.

But his eyes were open, blinking, trying to get the blood out. Then they were open and focused on her, spinning and spinning. She knew what was coming. A genjutsu. She was trying to recall how to release genjutsu, too drunk to remember that one couldn't simply break a genjutsu from an Uchiha.

"Sakura," he spoke her name clearly, without trouble or pain hindering it. That had shocked her, and made her even more useless, but he had lost too much blood, and Sakura was able to count down the seconds to his collapse.

More orders were yelled. She wasn't sure if any of them were directed to her, not until someone had grabbed her arm. "His eyes are to be removed," she was told. "Intact," he added, as if he was afraid that she may sabotage them. Of course. Uchiha eyes were too rare to let go waste.

Sasuke was thrown onto the operating table unceremoniously. She took a moment to line the remainder of the limbs in some sort of order, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself for the carelessness of her companions. Their hastiness just wasted more time. She did a check on the vitals like she would do for anyone she was caring for. His breath was ghostly light, almost unnoticeable, yet she felt it like the whooshing of a stormy wind. His pulse, fluttering and inconsistent, like a dying butterfly, was so loud that she felt her brain rattle against her skull.

Exsanguination.

"He's bleeding to death," she heard herself saying, noting as her charka ran up and down his body. His charka was low too, but as long as he didn't move it shouldn't kill him. She could sense the emptiness, how much chakra he could carry if he was at full strength. It was near to Naruto's if not matching.

"Good. Let him die."

She glared at the person who said that, her tone cold when she stated, "The Hokage wants him alive for trial." They weren't supposed to let their captives die, ever. If an accident did occur, an investigation would happen. Naruto sure as hell would have done something about it if he suspected foul play. If he did not, Sakura would insist to the annoyance of everyone else.

The man that had spoken grimaced and knew. Everyone else continued, if reluctantly. "AB," she stated the blood type from memory.

An IV was attached to him as she continued with the rest of her analyst. He was not in good shape. She would have to work fast. She always worked fast.

There was quite a bit of damage to his head. She thought briefly how that was not good since it may have caused damage to the precious eyes that Konoha desired so much. It would serve Konoha right if they lost the eyes because of Sasuke's death. She knew the secrets. She knew that it was the village's fault. Konoha had turned Sasuke into this.

There were bits of skull, loosely still clinging to the body like the membrane of a cracked egg shell. She closed her eyes as she searched for all the pieces with her chakra, fitting them together like a puzzle, fusing the pieces together as soon as she was sure of their placement. Some of the pieces were microscopic. She made sure all were accountable, none floating around where they shouldn't be, and any missing all together she remade by stimulating cell growth.

There was brain damage. That was for sure, as the cracked pieces of the skull had torn into the tissues. She reconstructed the brain with one hand, as her other hand continued to fit the skull back together. She could put the head back together physically, but any sort of irreversible damage such as memory loss or neural transmission, could not be confirmed until the patient woke, if he ever woke again.

This took her an hour and a half. She could feel the uneasiness of her staff, but she paid little attention to them. She was obviously working on the head, and they assumed she was making sure the eyes were in perfect condition. All they cared about were the eyes.

Done with all she could do with the skull, she ran her hands down the rest of the body, still high on the adrenalin that the complicated surgery gave her, checking for more damage.

The stump of the missing arm was covered in old blood and had been left alone without attention for too long. One of her assistants had clamped it and made the bleeding stop, but it had already been infected with blood poison. She said so out loud, so that that her company realized. The eyes after all were still receiving that toxic blood, and she had made no move to attempt to rescue them so far.

While they were dealing with that she checked the rest of the body. Abrasion and bruises that could wait, a few deep wounds that were hastily stitched up while she had been concentrating on other things. His spine was intact, not paralyzed, though one femur had to be reset. Some tissues were inflamed, some muscles sprained, little toe and finger bones broken. She could have worked on this specimen forever.

Excitement. She was so thrilled. So much for her to do! But she was being pressured and pushed, told to hurry up. They wanted her to remove the eyes already.

She hastily finished her observation, though not allowing herself to skip over any of the human body systems. Just by sheer curiosity, she checked that the reproductively system was all there as well. That hadn't been damaged at all. How interesting.

Sasuke was a large man. Taller than even Naruto and Kakashi at 182 centimeters. There were certainly larger people out there, but any taller would have him look ridiculous, she thought. He should have looked ridiculous now, broken, bloodied and weak, but he wasn't. He was broad shouldered too, taking up most of the table that they operated on.

In the midst of cherishing each part of him before her on the table, each organ and system struggling to survive despite the damage (he was beautiful, so beautiful) someone jerked her into awareness with a shove on her shoulder. She could prolong it no longer. The patient was finally stable. Waiting one more second was too dangerous.

She proceeded the operation, more people than she needed crowding her space as if afraid that the traitor would wake up during the procedure, which seemed to indeed be possible. She moved slowly, which just brought up everybody else's anxiety, but she didn't care. She was still drunk. She knew she had repaired the skull herself but didn't have the memory entirely. How long ago was that? Did she do it correctly?

She found herself admiring Sasuke's face, relaxed and drained and horrible. Under the gleam of blood was his straight nose, the elegant curve of his forehead. She lifted his eyelid. She marveled at the way it moved under her fingertips, easily yielding. The eyes were blank from his unconsciousness, and stunningly black. For an instant it felt wrong, marring something perfect, like stepping on fresh snow, or a drop of black ink on a sheet of blank paper, but she knew it had to be done. Leaving Sasuke his eyes was too much of a risk. Besides, he would never be whole again regardless. As she maneuvered the knife to curve around the eyeball of where she knew the Rinnegan lay hidden, she thought that maybe this was right. That it was maybe her right to take something of Sasuke's since he had removed her heart all those years ago. The fresh blood that dripped down his cheek from the first incision was beautiful, a stroke of calligraphy, stating everything that meant anything.

But as the first eye was removed, she thought she was going to throw up.

Not entirely sure on how her companions would react to such disgraceful behavior she swallowed down the bile, letting it burn down her throat. She was afraid that they would remove her and find someone else to do this if they thought she was incapable, and selfishly she wanted to be the one. It had to be done, she told herself again. It might as well be done by the best. The other eye was even harder to do so she stopped thinking until both eyeballs were safety in a jar to preserve them.

"I need to tend to his wounds," she heard herself say without thinking about them. She saw one of the men get ready to argue with her before she cut him off. "He'll die if left the way he is." That was only true if he somehow gained a colossal infection from his more minor wounds at this point but was still a possibility. Besides she knew no one was going to bother with any aftercare for a prisoner who was guaranteed to die. So, she stayed to dress the rest of his wounds, cleaning and disinfecting them.

Once finished she would have paused to look at him. She may have stopped all of time to continue to look at him, but there were now talking about what to do with his eyes, and she could not let them take them. Why? Why did it matter? They would be kept safe of course, until the Hokage approved of what to be done with them, and that happening during any time in Naruto's reign was unlikely. But no, she couldn't let them take them.

"I'll take them," she said, picking up the jar to bring to the secure room where they kept the most valuable things taken from their enemies. It had a special seal that she had the privilege of knowing how to undo, as most of the things that were put in there were placed in by her. She was nodded at as they took Sasuke away. She briefly thought she made the wrong choice, choosing the eyes rather than staying with Sasuke, but what was Sasuke without his eyes? Besides, that was dangerous. Insisting that she should stay with Sasuke's body for any more reason, for any more excuses, was too obvious. She needed to step away.

What if the eyes themselves was where Sasuke was? He could be brain dead for all she knew at this point. Especially now, now that she had stolen his power like some sort of Delilah. She swallowed. She thought she was mostly sober now, but not entirely sure as it still felt like she was dreaming. She walked to the storage room to where the eyes were to be placed. She opened the seal to the door and walked into a room filled with jars of other strange and terrible things. She placed her jar on a spot on the shelf, but her hand didn't leave the glass. Her fingers and palm covered most of the jar, but she could see parts of the two orbs circling each other. Now one purple, caught her eye, and for a second she though that it had cast its spell on her. She blinked. No. A brain would have to be attached to the eyes for them to work. She should go, but she still couldn't remove her hand.

It was wrong. Stealing anything in this room was life in prison, at the very least, if not death, but when she brought her arm back to her, the hand still held the jar, and she stuffed it inside her jacket, leaving with it.

She went home fast, dawn breaking by the time she reached her room. If she wanted to she could go straight to the hospital now. There was bond to be something to do at this time of day, but instead she went into her bedroom with her stolen jar. She placed the jar on her bed stand, staring at the floating eyes. Suddenly she couldn't look at them anymore. At first the eyeballs held a strange elegance to them. Now they were terrifying. She screamed and covered the jar with a shirt and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Naruto didn't usually come to her home. As she opened the door no words were exchange, just his serious blue eyes casted down at her, burning her. She was too afraid to speak. She waited, waited for him to tell her to go with him, that he knew, he knew what she had taken.

Instead he sighed when he realized she wasn't going to confess to anything on her own and gave her a gentler look. She had the thought that it would be polite to invite the Hokage in, so she stepped back and did so.

He went into her living room, familiar, and she followed him, both of them seating themselves across from each other.

"They shouldn't have made you do it," Naruto started.

She steadied her breath, staring at him, trying to figure out if he knew.

"You should have gone to me at once instead. We have other surgeons."

She found the courage to speak, her eyes demurely downcast. "From my understanding, it had been a state of emergency."

Naruto only grunted, grudgingly accepted that nothing was to be done about it now.

"Was my work not sufficient?" she asked, trying to get to the bottom of this without admitting to anything. Her heart was beating fast. Naruto was very good at reading people, especially her, but he was tired now, and distracted.

"No. No of course it was. It's just- I didn't give orders- It didn't have to be you." He stared at her. "Are you alright?"

She lifted her eyes. "I'm fine."

"You don't have to continue your duties with... with him. I'll understand if-actually just don't. Alright?"

Was that an order? Stay away from Sasuke Uchiha. She gave a nod of her head. "Would you like any tea?" Was it too obvious she was changing the subject? It didn't matter though. Naruto was obviously thinking about something else.

"No thanks. I best be going. Thank you, Sakura."

* * *

The Intelligence team were dying to get their blackened, bloodstained hands on Sasuke Uchiha, but the Hokage would not give his permission for them to have him. It was too dangerous. They couldn't afford any more people to be killed. Even though Sasuke's eyes had been removed, his one arm missing, and chakra nearly depleted, Naruto would not take the chance. Besides, Sasuke Uchiha had always been a one-man army. He wasn't affiliated with anyone, which had always been clear since he had cause mayhem to anyone regardless of nation. He had never been the type of person to promise others a reward for helping him. There was no one else out there that would be working for him, no other information to be gathered. Sasuke had always been very straight forward. His mission had always been to destroy the ninja's way of life. His mission would be over as soon as Sasuke Uchiha was over.

So, in the dungeon he stayed until trial.

"I hate to ask you this," Naruto asked her after a summons to his office. "But I feel you'd know better than anyone else. How dangerous is Sasuke now?"

She jumped slightly at the sound of the name. All day she was waiting to be arrested. They should know by now, that the eyes were missing, but no one had come for her. Even this meeting, which she was sure she had known what it would be about, seemed to have different purposes. She hadn't gotten caught yet. It was evening now. She had been getting ready to go to the hospital to work. Naruto had told her not to go to Sasuke. So far, she had not, fearing that someone would accuse her.

She paused in her thinking. "I haven't seen how he's being contained," she replied. Naruto nodded approvingly. "But he was critically low on chakra during ... the operation. I wouldn't be surprised if he was out of chakra already when he was brought in, but he obviously... tried to use it anyway. His body physically would need a lot of healing if he were to attempt to escape. And besides... his brain..." She paused. Naruto waited for her. She caught his eye. "You hit him in the head," she clarified. "Damage was done. I couldn't tell how much. But he won't ever be the same."

Silence.

She supposed her report was good news, yet there was a sense of despair between the both of them.

"I can look at him again if you like." She cut Naruto off before he could argue, "Of course I've been ordered not to."

Naruto sat back in his chair. "Sakura..."

"He doesn't affect me anymore," she tried, afraid she was sounding a little too desperate. She was. "I completed the operation without incident. It wasn't even until I arrived that the situation finally became under control." Though that wasn't necessarily due to her as it was luck.

Naruto heaved a giant sigh. He was always sighing at her, she noticed. "Fine. You can carry out your normal duties, just... talk to me, will ya? If you need to."

Sakura blinked at him, face unreadable. And then she was dismissed.

* * *

Most of the prison guards were fairly young, too young to have remembered Sasuke before his desertion, or to have much knowledge of her own past failures. Anyone older might have noticed, or questioned Naruto's decision. They were always questioning. Naruto didn't think straight when it came to Sakura. Sakura didn't think straight when it came to Sasuke.

She wasn't bothered or stopped. The guards let her proceed without hindrance as she visited each prisoner, each of her patients, to check on their health.

She saved Sasuke for last, to keep her head together and because he was in the deepest, lowest floor of the prison. There was some extra security to go through before reaching him, but she was cleared, holding her breath the entire time.

She had checked the storage room where she had taken the eyes before, just to see if anyone else could have been snooping around in there and discovered them missing, but everything was in place. No one had been there.

The prison was dark. She followed the guards, each one of them holding a light stick. She clutched tightly to her medical case with one hand, her other holding her own light stick.

There were no windows in Sasuke's cell, it being underground. It was also damp, and not ideal for any of her healing patients, but not much was spared for prisoners. They were lucky to get her.

Sasuke's cell was within solid iron walls, pulsating with infused chakra to keep anything from breaking them. The door had a small glass window that was too small to fit a head through. The light switch was outside the door. The guards neglected to turn it on before letting her in, used to their light sticks. She didn't notice their negligence right away, as she was trying not to faint, straining her eyes to see Sasuke Uchiha even before he could be in eyesight.

Inside, the room was divided with bars, so if a visitor were permitted they would be able to see the prisoner with some protection. This was as far as the guards would go. She would go even past the bars.

She was strong. She had been able to wrestle down her fair share of prisoners, and the guards had all seen her do it, but even them were nervous for her. This was Sasuke Uchiha. They had heard stories of him.

She turned to the guards. "You may go back to your post," she said. It was probably better for them to stay, as eye witnesses to her murder if they were unable to save her from Sasuke's wrath, but she wanted to see him without being pressured all the time, like on the operating table. She always had to worry about what her faced looked like to the people around her. Sasuke couldn't see her face. He couldn't use that against her.

The guards were all too happy to be as far away from the prisoner as possible anyway.

On the other side of the bars, Sasuke was chained to the far wall, his one arm hung up taunt over his sloped body. She used her light stick to search for life, only now realizing that the light had not been turned on for her. She muttered a small oath. They were somewhat loud when entering the cell but Sasuke didn't appear to have made any movement, not even a twitch of his fingers.

He could still be unconscious, she thought, or dead.

She walked over to him, scuffing her feet on the cold cement floor so that he should be able to hear her approach. She was hesitant about using her voice. Sasuke may recognize it. Maybe he knew that she was the one that had taken his eyes. Maybe he hated her for it. Maybe he would kill her.

"Sasuke?"

No answer.

"Can you hear me? Do you know who I am?"

He did not move. She wondered if he had memory loss, if he remembered anything. Would that make him the same person? Did he know why he was here or what he'd done? Did he deserve to die if he didn't know his own crime?

She knelt before him and could see that he was indeed still breathing, and he wasn't breathing deeply like someone asleep. He was awake.

Thinking she would lose her arm but doing it anyway, she placed her hand on his drooping head. He moved a little, but not by any muscle of his own, only swaying slightly from her pressure, pivoting from the chain above his head.

Her heart skipped a beat in panic. No, he wasn't dead. He was breathing. But she could see drool dripping from his mouth, and now that she was closer she could smell that he had soiled himself.

For a second, she was at a loss of what to do. Then she took a breath and left.

She returned shortly after with a water basin, soap, sponge, towel and a fresh prison uniform. She stared briefly at the arm chained above his head before making the decision to release it. She didn't have a key, but she could easily bend the metal to undo one link to take it from the wall. The chain itself wasn't infused with chakra, and she could see why. Sasuke wasn't going anywhere. As Sasuke's entire weight was leaning on the chain, she carefully let him fall onto the dirty ground, before undressing him.

She talked to him as she cleaned the feces from his skin, nonsense things, her voice pitched high as if she was talking to an infant. Once he was cleaned, she cleaned the floor, scrubbing it with a cleaning brush and draining the water down the drain that was in the cell.

There was a bed, but it was on the other side of the room, and no one had thought to move it closer to be used by the chained prisoner. She checked the wood tentatively. It was pretty rotten, but she thought it would hold his weight for now. Then she dragged it over to him, and heaved him onto the dirty mattress.

She checked the healing of all of his injuries, applying ointment on cuts and wrapping fresh bandages on any open wounds. The leg was healing fine and there was no signs of him trying to have use it. She checked the head last, afraid of what she may find.

She found the brain damage immediately, dead bits of flesh attached to the living tissue. The cells were too damaged for her to heal with chakra alone. She may be able to remove the dead tissues, so that new tissues could take its place, but even then, it wouldn't be the same. The lifetime of information that had been stored there would be lost.

The damaged brain tissue would explain any impairment with body movement or speaking. It may also impair vision but of course that didn't matter to Sasuke now.

Most of the damage obviously must have happened during the blow that hit him in the head but, biting her lip nervously she wondered if she had caused more harm to him in anyway. She distinctly remembered him saying her name before the operation. He had recognized her, could speak, now he seemed to be no more than a vegetable. His vital organs were all working. Could he be in shock? Depression?

Or was he faking it?

She thought it rather extreme for Sasuke Uchiha to shit himself all in the name of deception, but maybe she didn't know how far he would go. He had gone far.

Finished with what she had come to do, which was to tend to the mending of the wounds, she stared at him hard in the green light of her light stick. He had no eyes for her to test his pupils. She would need to do several tests that she knew the rest of the prison surgical team would hate her for.

"Sasuke," she stated somewhat louder into his ear. "It's Sakura. Do you know who I am? Nod your head if you recognize me." Of course, she doubted Sasuke would nod his head for her if he did know her. He would never do anything for her, no matter how simple the request.

She tried another tactic, getting annoyed now. She couldn't have inflicted more damage to him. The eye removal had been clean. The mending of his skull had been done with perfection. All brain matter was there. He had spoken to her.

"Your eyes are gone. Forever," she said, watching what she could see of his expression in the dim light. She was staring at the corner of his lips, waiting for that snarl, even if it was just the hint of it. "We've taken them. I've taken them," she clarified. She paused. Still with no sign of reaction she placed a hand over his nose, still feeling the breath under her palm. She forced his mouth open, letting it go. It stayed slacked, before slowly started to close. The jaw stopped before becoming completely shut. She clapped her hands in front of his face. Shouted. Then she took one of her surgical knifes from her medical kit, and gave him a small cut, quickly, on the lobe of his ear. Not so much of a wince, as the blood ran down his neck to pool underneath his shoulder. She promptly healed it.

She hadn't been sober during the operation. Could she have made a mistake?

Sasuke's one hand had turned purple from being chained over his head, but him now on the bed had raised him from the ground. She reattached the chain, his arm now laying comfortable on the mattress next to him. She wasn't sure if he could feel it, but better to be on the safe side just in case his hand decided to fall off due to no circulation.

Not knowing what else to do, she hurriedly left.

Before leaving the prison, she asked the other people who had been there the night that Sasuke had woken up before the operation. Did they hear Sasuke speak? Say her name? No one of course remembered during all that was happening. They were annoyed that she was even asking.

She went to report to Naruto.

* * *

Naruto didn't know what to do either. She found herself regretting telling him anything. It was agonizing to see him like this, sitting at his desk, face in his hand.

"I don't..." she started, then restarted. "About the trial. You said you wanted it to be a fair trial. Did that mean you wanted him to speak for himself? Because I'm not sure if at this point that he can."

"Will he ever be able to again?"

"I won't know without more tests," she said, trying to keep the hope out of her voice. She longed to keep working on Sasuke's body. Her hands were itching to put him back together again. He could never be completely whole. He was missing the arm, but there was research in prosthetics now, and as for his eyes, she still had those kept safe.

She bit her own tongue. Now was not the time to be fantasizing. She fantasied all the time, wishing she had the courage to actually preform all the sins she thought of, so that she could be punished for them, so they would kill her, and her misery would end.

"I... I wanted him to be able to face death with eyes wide open. I feel that's what he would have wanted. I..." Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't realized Naruto was speaking, though she wondered if he was indeed still speaking to her. "That's why I couldn't kill him. It's dishonorable to kill a man unconscious, you know, when he can't fight back, and you're saying now he isn't... conscious?" She doubted Sasuke would have felt it much better to die in execution rather than battle, but they weren't going to release him at this point. She thought perhaps the trial itself was a type of battle, but not one that Sasuke could ever win.

"He's conscious but I don't know how much of him is in there. If I could do the tests..."

"Do the tests. It's fine," and she held back her squeal of glee, keeping her face unreadable, and went straight back to the prison.

Giving Sasuke an anesthetic that he may not have even needed, she did several tests, and a few operations to remove the dead tissues from the brain. The brain was a wonderful adaptive organ. It healed itself fast, and she did all she could to speed the process.

She returned home every night to check to be sure that the eyes in their jar were still safe in her room. She always kept the blinds closed, the door locked. No more ANBU came to visit her.

She didn't want to have to look at them, but she needed to confirm they were there. She removed her shirt, steeling her gaze at her prize.

"Just what are you up to, Uchiha Sasuke?" She realized that the eyes, being only eyeballs, didn't have ears and therefor couldn't hear her. She repeated the statement again in sign language, her voice accompanied the statement louder, completely missing that she was being even more crazier than the first time she spoke.

One of the eye balls were turned away from her, as if watching its brother's back. "Are you listening to me?" She lifted the jar and gave it a tap so that the one eyeball swung around to face her as well. "Hmph. Fine be that way." She covered the jar with a shirt before getting undressed for the night.

* * *

She visited Sasuke every day. Over time he gained his reflexes back, and he would hold himself up in a sitting position but did not move else wise and made no attempt to communicate with her. He wouldn't eat at first, as any sort of food or water that she placed into his mouth would just fall out. After a time of supplementing the missing vitamins with an IV, she removed the IV and left a cup of water and a bowl of gruel within reach of him. She had placed his hand over the objects to be sure that he knew where to find them. Then she removed the IV and waited to see if he would feed himself if left alone.

He did not, and after him losing quite a bit of weight, she went back to feeding him herself. After awhile and some patience she was able to teach him to swallow.

Her other actions consisted of stimulating the growth of healing cells and relieving pain. He never made any reaction to pain, but she wasn't so sure he couldn't feel it. After he had regain most of his reflexes, she thought his body had begun to tense up, a sign that he was feeling discomfort, but yet not enough for him to cry out when she pressed on his wounds experimentally. Maybe he did have some irreversible brain damage. Maybe he did have memory loss. The tests did show some casualty, but not too much that she thought it would be this bad, that he would suddenly feel nothing, but it was hard to tell. Some things about the brain were still not understood. It could be that something else was damaged that she had missed. Or not. Or maybe she just couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that this could happen to Sasuke.

Could he simply just be depressed? His situation was rather dire. But then...

He must be faking it.

After a time, even with her suspicions, she got used to Sasuke's unresponsive behavior. The routine of feeding, cleaning, and healing everyday was comforting to her, like she had a purpose.

It was an absurd thought. This couldn't be her life's purpose. She had served much purpose to the village in other ways. This small part of her life would be insignificant.

Perhaps she felt pride that she could focus on one body for so long. It was much like caring for an infant at times, and she found her inner motherly instincts indulge in such activities. She would never have children. She had known she would never have children, but the thought, the responsibility of someone else's life, that sense of purpose, she had longed for it. It may have been the reason she was drawn to the medical field.

At one point in her life she had adopted a cat to try to feed that yearning, but working so many hours as she did, the cat grew a preference for Ino, who she had asked to feed the animal too many times. She wound up giving the cat to Ino, jealous that its affections had turned to her friend instead of herself.

She was always so jealous.

It was shameful.

He wasn't just one of her patients. She had known that though she tried to ignore it. She never wanted anyone else to care for her Sasuke. She wanted him to be hers, always.

He was healing nicely, and after the first several weeks, she was beginning to see signs that he was a human being rather than a vegetable. Each visit consisted of a 15 minute treatment of pain removal from his head. There was continuous swelling, but whenever she could she would bring it down with her chakra. Sasuke would relax when this would happen. She felt the tension in his muscles leave him. "That's better, now isn't it?" She talked to him, though he never made any indication that he could hear her. She held his head, standing before him as he sat on the bed. He was normally laying down unless she had moved him up right. She had to remember to leave him in a laying down position, because if she left him sitting up, after a time he simply fell over, his captive arm stopping him from falling off the bed and damaging his wrist further.

She would have liked to take the damn thing off permanently, but if someone else were to come in his cell after she had left and discovered it unattached, problems would occur, so she did her best to treat it every time she saw him, wrapping the wrist in extra bandages for padding.

After checking up on all his wounds, she would then feed him, help him use the chamber pot, then clean him, in that order. Besides of Sasuke's lack of helping her with any of this, he was still her easiest patient because he never fought her with anything.

She had later discovered the light switch the second time she had come to visit Sasuke. She had always felt bad about turning it off after she left, leaving Sasuke in the dark, though he was now blind as a bat and couldn't tell if he was in full lit sun or not.

He should be able to feel the warmth of the sun though, she thought. It was quite obvious that he could feel now. He was always cold.

The extra blanket that she brought for him were the first of many acts displaying her favoritism from the others. Before leaving she had tucked him in with it. His face blank as always, but she thought that the blankness was like one of surprise, surprise that he could feel warm. She hadn't been sure he had remembered what that felt like.

Next were clean sheets for his bed, extra pillows for his sore head, and clean clothes. She "accidentally" broke his bed, an excuse for the prison to give him a new one. She put an effort to make sure his food was warm, and of better quality. She brushed his teeth for him, though keeping him from swallowing the toothpaste the first few times had been a chore, after which she could get him to drool out the suds. She washed and combed his hair. She started to even shave his face when he needed it. He was her doll to play with.

Through all of this she talked to him, mostly about her days, her other work in the hospital, complaining about her coworkers. One of the benefits of chakra infused walls was that it tended to keep sound in as well.

She rubbed up and down his legs as he sat motionless on the bed, to keep circulation going through his body. "You think you may try walking today?" she asked him. He was starting to get bed sores. "Do you think you can stand?"

She got up. "Come now, couch potato." She placed her hands beneath his armpits and lifted. He wasn't heavy to her with her super human strength, in fact he was still underweight, but his height made it difficult for her to get him standing immediately. "Don't you dare let your knees buckle!" she scolded. He began to sway, and she pulled him back towards her so that he was leaning on her. She realized his knees had buckled anyway and gave him another shove. Still leaning all his weight on her, he was finally able to stand, his body warm against her face.

"Good job!" She patted his back. "Let's try a step now, shall we?" She undid the chain attached to the wall and began to walk him in a slow circle, supporting his weight. After completing the round, she decided that was enough for now and set him back on the bed.

Sakura reported Sasuke's improvements to Naruto every week, even when Naruto had seemed to forget about the scheduled meetings due to the natural tendency of his job. Sakura was proud of all of Sasuke's accomplishments, until Naruto reminded her that a date for his trial had not yet been set, due to not having the time to organize it. The pressure of people wanting Sasuke's execution immediately had died down slightly from the time Sasuke was first captured, but it was still there, and was forever being reminded by the elders. Sakura's head dropped whenever the trial was mentioned. "He's not well enough yet," she would say. It was just as well, as there was no date yet.

She spent too much time with Sasuke. Even when she had finished tending him and had nothing else to do, instead of leaving, sometimes she would just sit by him, touching him, stroking his head on her lap, petting his hair, feeling his skin.

There was a sense of innocents to him now that she had never known before. She wanted to protect him, to care for him forever, though she knew she wouldn't be able to. She couldn't save him. There was never ever any chance of saving him, from the beginning, but she chose not to think about it so that she could continue functioning.

His skin had gotten softer from the good quality soap she had chosen to use on him, his hair shiny from the expensive shampoo. He smelled nice, because of her, though there was still a hint of the ointment she used for his wounds, and the stuffiness of the sick or injured.

She did her best to keep him dry and warm, but the humidity battled her efforts. She would very much have liked a window to be somewhere in the cell, no matter the size.

On her way over to see him one morning, she noticed a juicy ripened tomato hanging from a vine in someone's garden. Sasuke's favorite food were once tomatoes. She didn't know what made her suddenly remember. It wasn't her garden, but she reached over and plucked the fruit. It practically fell into her hand with a touch. It was still warm in her palm from the sun. She took it with her to be part of Sasuke's lunch.

She wasn't sure if tomatoes were still what Sasuke liked. Often, the sense of taste changed after head injuries, but she fed it to him anyway, with a little bit of sea salt rubbed into its flesh. She had placed a slice into his mouth, wiping the juices off his chin as he did his best effort to chew it. "It's a tomato," she had told him. "Can you taste the sunlight from it?"

* * *

She rolled over onto her back, having trouble sleeping. She knew without looking at the clock that it would be between three or four in the morning. She always woke during somewhere in that hour. Her eyes still closed she reached for her vibrator. The drawer had been lazily left open with how many times she had used it.

After forcing herself to come to completion with it, she laid on her back, letting the endorphins rush through her veins, hoping it would relax her enough to fall back to sleep. Her eyes had opened sometime during this time, staring at the ceiling. She turned her head to look at the clock, but the shirt covered jar was in the way. Too lethargic to try to move the jar itself, she flipped up a corner of the shirt in the hope that maybe she could see the glowing numbers of the clock through the glass.

Instead her eyes locked onto an eyeball, staring directly at her. She gave a start of panic. None of the eyeballs were facing this direction when she had first covered it, but of course the smallest movement could have jostled their gaze. She forced herself to stare back, letting her heart and breath slow down. She tried to remember it was just a dead eyeball. It couldn't hurt her, no matter what powers may lay inside it. She glared at it.

"Pervert," she muttered, like it had been trying to watch her get off. A second later, still staring back at the eyeball, she switched the vibrator back on.

* * *

Sasuke was getting better. He could now walk on his own. She took him on strolls around his cell, leading him about by his chain like a dog on a leash. She still had to guide him through certain tasks, such as eating, drinking and going to the bathroom, but he would work with her to get them accomplished, causing much less mess. He still didn't respond to her voice. She was having a hard time figuring out if he could in fact not hear her or was just ignoring her. His life became routine enough that he didn't need her to tell him they were now walking or eating for him to go through the motions. He didn't smile, weep or show signs of being frustrated, though his character had never shown much emotion even before the accident, if one would call what happened an accident. She could tell that he was expecting her when she did arrive, already sitting up in the mornings. She wondered if he appreciated her care. Did anything matter to him?

"Remember that time during the Chunin exams?" she said making conversation as she delicately placed morsels of food into his mouth. "That is squid," she told him. He always chewed slowly, even when he must have been starving at times. "And Naruto... always being so loud and exposing our position?" She sighed in expiration. "He's not like that anymore. Not really. Well, it's hard to tell. Naruto is always so busy organizing things. It's maybe causing his skills to be getting a little rusty." Not too rusty that he couldn't take down Sasuke. But perhaps so, as Sasuke survived. "You were always good at that. At leading us, even though Naruto most times wouldn't listen to you. Eventually maybe he would have, once he matured. He turned out alright, Naruto. This is rice." She placed some rice in his mouth next. She thought if she kept speaking the words, even if he didn't remember, he would at least learn. "And do you remember when you fought for my honor against those Sound ninja? That was very honorable of you. You might have been quiet but you could be quite a gentlemen sometimes." She didn't talk about his wrong doings. She couldn't bare to bring up his desertion, his painful past. If he couldn't remember, she wanted him to not suffer from it.

She couldn't tell if he was suffering.

She thought about it. Every time she caught Sasuke's name spoken by someone else, his trial, his execution, the hatred, the pain. She had thought about it in her life, other times, if she truly loved him, she should put him out of his misery. She could do it easily. No one knew what she did with Sasuke in his cell. She knew she would hardly be punished for it, so many people wishing they could do it themselves. The only one that may think of punishing her would be Naruto, and he would never punish her. In fact, he would understand the most.

She could do it painlessly. Let him breathe in some carbon dioxide. Overdose him on an anesthesia.

But killing him now would be like killing a child. She knew what Naruto meant about striking down a man who was already unconscious.

And even if Sasuke was himself, even if he was about to kill her and destroy her village and everything she loved, she knew she couldn't do it then either. She had the chance once, or at least she thought she did, and hesitated. She couldn't do it. She loved him too much.

She put down the bowl and chopsticks, placing both hands on either side of Sasuke's face. "Sasuke," Still no sign that he heard his own name. "What do I do?" she whispered. There were some lines on his face. He was older, a full-grown adult. He wasn't a child.

"If you had asked me to, before... if you had let me come with you..." She'd probably be dead. She had no hope to keep up with him, not nearly enough cruelty in her heart to do the things he had done, but if he had let her try, way back then, when she was twelve, maybe she would have been able to adapt at that age.

"Would you let it end like this?" she asked. "Are you going to let them execute you like some dumb domesticated animal destined for slaughter?"

She had admired him since she first saw him, a beautiful genius. And when he turned against them she couldn't stop her admiration of his skill and intelligence even as he used his power for evil things. Even though he was terrible, there was no denying that he still demanded a sense of awe from everyone else. Even if they hated him, he was still magnificent.

Now he wasn't. He was nothing now. A husk, lifeless, laughable. There was nothing of him that she should admire, good or evil, and yet she couldn't stop loving him.

She pressed her lips against his, her hands squishing his face slighty, so the flesh of his lips were soft against hers. She inhaled his scent, intoxicated. He probably couldn't breathe but he didn't fight her. He never did.

"Sweet, sweet Sasuke," she stroked the hair from his forehead. "I will protect you," she promised, knowing it would be a lie. "I won't let anyone hurt you. You will be okay. Don't be afraid."

She cradled his head against her chest, and she cried for him again, for the billionth time.

* * *

As Sasuke's condition stabilized to what it was, Sakura slowly stopped reporting to Naruto. If Naruto noticed he didn't seek her out on it, most likely trying to avoid the subject as much as she was. If no one talked about Sasuke, no one asked about him.

She avoided her family, as well as Ino so that they wouldn't question where she had been all this while. Her family were accustomed to not hearing from her for long bouts of time, but Ino would wonder why she hadn't been working at the hospital as much.

The only way she knew that she could protect Sasuke was to keep him safe in the prison. No one could get to him there. That was her only plan. To have Sasuke live.

She started to eat her own meals with him, like picnics, she told him pleasantly. She told him she loved him and that he was safe.

Sasuke still gave no responds to her. He ate, and he would sometimes sleep as she stroked him. If this was all he knew, perhaps she could think of him as happy. If he didn't know what he once was, maybe he enjoyed her company and was at peace.

She would tell herself anything.

She did her best to keep Sasuke as comfortable as possible, but with no communication from him, she didn't know if he liked any of the presents she gave him, any of the treats to eat, any of the stories she told him, the smells of the shampoo she was using.

And then it happened.

Saukra thought she noticed a responds from him.

She was preparing to bathe him. She had obtained a stool for this purpose. Sasuke still had the tendency to fall over if pushed too much, not yet having a complete sense of balance. She would sit him on the stool, close to the wall so that it could catch him if he started to lean back too far. She scrubbed his body in a no-nonsense sort of way, accustomed of sponge bathing other sick men at the hospital. Occasionally, one would be a little too happy with her minstrels when washing a certain sensitive area. Such things she easily ignored and accepted. She did this procedure in the most professional manner, and as long as her current patient did not have anything smart to say, no one's teeth were knocked out.

Sasuke, with his accustom-ness to not have reactions to anything at all, was normally soft as a kitten during these times. The penis sometimes changes sizes randomly, for whatever reason, at times. She noticed it of course, but her main focus had always been whatever was the current task at hand.

Now, as she was scrubbing him with a soapy cloth, she noticed that it was a tad bit stiffer than normal. Still trying to ignore this, she washed other parts of him as she waited for it to soften again, not wanting to agitate it further. She left it for last and was just going to give it two good clean strokes with the wash cloth before moving on, but at the second stroke her hand slowed. She felt it expand in her grip and the shock of it made her stop in her tracks.

She looked at his face, still boring and stoic as ever. She almost wanted to burst out into laughter, with Sasuke's face so blank and his cock in her hand. He had to feel it. She watched him, even if it was just a change in his breathing pattern. If there wasn't... she wanted to know why.

Telling herself it was in the name of science, she began to stroke him up and down, using plenty of soap so there would be no chafing, all the while studying his face. His lips were parted, his jaw not clamped shut, but that was how he had taken to carry his face these days, lose and blank. She used her chakra to check his pulse. His blood pressure had in fact risen to support his now stiff member. Because of this his body would be needing more oxygen.

There it was. Sasuke had taken a breath. She felt her own body become to a suddenly submerge of arousal. "Sasuke..." she moaned quiet and breathy. The rushing of blood in his veins was causing his body temperature to rise, and in response, a slight sheen of sweat. She could smell it.

She moved her hand in a steady rhythm, feeling her own hips shift with it, Sasuke's breath settling down to match.

At his peak, Sasuke felt so hot in her hand she thought his flesh would burn through the wash cloth. Though she could feel the changes in his body, his face still remained blank, so she had turned her gaze downward to see what she was doing to him with her hand. She watched his seed slip through her fingers, landing partially on his stomach. She stared at it for a second before in a panic, quickly washed the evidence away.

Her head snapped to the door, as if someone would walk in and see what she had just done. She briefly looked at Sasuke, but of course he wasn't going to say anything. She quickly dried him off and dressed him, and as soon as she thought he would be okay for the rest of the day she left.

What did she just do? She practically sexually assaulted Sasuke Uchiha. She did. She molested him. That was molestation. Sasuke had responded, but only in the way that any male body would. Besides the normal responds, he didn't show any other indication that he knew what was happening to him, that he had asked for it.

Of course, he didn't ask for it.

She went home in a nervous wreck of nerves pacing back and forth. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" She felt she had violated a child. Sasuke wasn't a child. Still, he had no way to give consent. And he was a condemned criminal who she was supposed to be in charge of. What was wrong with her?!

She went up to her room, suddenly paranoid and wanted to make sure the eyes were still where she left them. Of course, they were, still staring at her.

"Are you happy now?!" she shouted at the jar, upset with herself. "Don't tell me you didn't like it. Your body did even if you didn't give a shit!" She suddenly screamed, stomping her feet, trying to rid her frustration.

She knew she was pretty. It had taken her more than half her life to figure that out, but she knew. Sasuke's rejection and her being teased as a child did not help in the matter, but after accepting that she would always be alone, she realized that it wasn't because of her looks. The fact that she tended to be a bitch for no good reason was another good way of keeping men away, but even with all that working against her, she still had suitors ask for her. Besides, most weren't concern about her personality as long as they could get laid.

If she was not in the mood, she could easily make the offending man shit his pants with an icy pale green glare, or an over powered punch to an unlucky inanimate object. If she was bored she would be a tease, baiting the unexpected victim until the last moment and then running for the hills. You would think the men would learn, but as stupid as they were, they would always try again.

Sasuke was a man, but never showed any sexual interest in her. As far as she knew, he hadn't shown it to anyone, but she didn't really know him. Not the true him.

She took off her shirt in a fit, throwing it on the floor violently. "Is this what you want!?" she screamed at the jar, before tugging off her shorts. "You could have had this, you know? Everyone else has tried, but you could have really had it." She flipped back her hair after she was done bending over from the shorts. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror, flushed with her anger. She was small, but strong. She wasn't squeamish over physical pain and she could have put up a fight if that's what he wanted. She had the stamina. She could please him. She could.

She unclipped her bra, knowing her breasts were small and maybe not every man's type, but she didn't care anymore. "This is me," she whispered. "This could have been yours." She kicked off her panties, grabbed her vibrator and flung herself onto the bed. "Watch," she told the eyes in the jar, and got off with them watching her.

* * *

She was almost too afraid to return to Sasuke the next day, embarrassed on what had happened. Curiosity forced her and of course, Sasuke wasn't any different. Their routine continued like nothing had happen. She thought that her life would return to normal, or at least the normal of what the last few months had been, but when she returned to her home, she discovered Ino sitting on her couch, despite the locks she had placed on her home.

"You've been avoiding me at the hospital," Ino stated as soon as Sakura had spotted her. "You know that just makes your behavior more obvious."

For a brief panicked instant, Sakura thought of running away from the spot, proving Ino further, but she stood rooted where she had entered her living room. Had Ino been in her bedroom? No she would have said something about the eyes. Or she wouldn't, knowing Sakura would run then.

"We've had Sasuke for months now, and the Hokage won't let Intelligence do their job. Why?"

Ino had a similar job to Sakura only in the Intelligence unit. Medical ninjas were required for healing captives after torture. Of course, Ino would notice Sasuke's absence, as she was in that trade, following in her father's footsteps.

"Sasuke had suffered brain damage. It would be pointless to send him over there. There would be no information to gain." All that could be gained from Sasuke were his eyes. She wondered if Ino knew where they were.

"Then the Hokage should let me take a look at him. I can unlock any memories that have been hidden."

Sakura shook her head, though noting that Ino may be right, "It's no use. Parts of the brain were dead. There's nothing there. I had to remove some of it."

Ino narrowed her gaze at her.

"Talk to Naruto about it if you're so concerned," she snapped.

"You have a better connection to the Hokage than I do."

"You want me to convince Naruto to send Sasuke to the Intelligence unit?"

"Why not?"

"What for?"

"Are you protecting him?" Ino finally asked bluntly. "Why is Naruto letting you work with him at all?"

"Because, I meet qualification," she said icily.

"If you meet 'qualifications' why isn't he recovered enough to talk. If it's his brain, I should be the one looking into it!"

"For fuck's sake you've always been so fucking jealous-" Ino stood up, and for a moment Sakura was scared. She knew she had surpassed Ino. She had surpassed her in medicine, and strength. If put against each other they both knew who would win, but Ino was using logic against her. Sakura had no chance against logic.

"I'm not going to tell the Hokage that you can do something better than I," Sakura said, flipping her hands up in the air. "Why would I ever do that?"

Ino scoffed. "Of course, you wouldn't admit to it."

"But go ahead and talk to him yourself. I'm not going to be bothering him more than I half to, and if he wants to put Sasuke in your charge instead, there's no way I can stop you."

Ino didn't answer for a moment, giving Sakura a steady glare before saying, "I just want you to be okay."

"I am okay! People asking me that constantly isn't going to change anything. Just let me do my work and be left in peace."

"No."

They fought. They always fought. And the root of their fighting, no matter how well hidden, had always been because of Sasuke Uchiha.

Eventually Ino left in a huff, gone away from Sakura's life until Ino had the grace to forgive her. Ino always forgave her and she didn't know why.

She sat on her bed, stroking the jar in her lap, and was disgusted with herself that she didn't care.

* * *

It had been about seven months since Sasuke's capture, at which point, Sakura didn't think any more improvement would show. She had given him the best care possible. This would be how he was for now on.

Sakura may have been crazy at times, but she wasn't stupid. She didn't let Sasuke's new personalty change the way she did things. She didn't leave him without the chain to his wrist. When she had him walk, she kept a firm grip on him at all times. This was mostly because she was afraid that he would fall and further injure himself, but her normal cautious habits when dealing with her work hadn't left her, or so she thought.

She had gained a key to his chain and replaced the entire thing when she thought the links were getting weak. She kept every item she brought with her within eyesight and made sure nothing would go missing. She left nothing for him when she left, except the bedding and his clothing. She only gave him enough food and exercise to help him heal, not necessarily to grow stronger. She even had a pager around her wrist that she always carried with her in the prison, which was to be pressed if for whatever reason, she was in a situation she could not control. Help would then be sent for. She had thought all of this had been over caution. The deadly criminal that Sasuke once was, was no longer in there.

But she was wrong.

It was no different than any other day. It had been Thursday. He had no recent improvements. There was no sense of anything being different. The guards had left her to do her business, and she was checking him over with her chakra, finding everything to be the same.

Sasuke never used his one arm. She would hold it over her shoulder when moving him, or place it this way or that, but he never moved it on his own. He had some control of it, she knew. The muscles tensed in the shoulder in an attempt to find his balance sometimes, but he never acted like that part of his body was a tool for him to use. Until now.

The new chain that she had replaced his with was long enough to have his arm rest comfortably at his side when laying on the bed. There was even more slack when he was sitting up, just enough for him to sling around her neck if she happened to be so close enough...

She must have taken some sort of step closer to him. She hadn't remembered how she had moved.

It happened so fast. The chain dug into the soft flesh of her throat so hard she thought that it had slit through. Her first reaction was for her hands to go to the chain around her neck, but the links had halfway disappeared into her skin and she couldn't get a good grip.

Her next reaction was to slam the buzzard on her wrist to alert the guards of the situation. Once she remembered to do that, she remembered she was stronger than Sasuke.

She broke the chain around her neck, oxygen floating back to her making her light headed. Only after she broke the chain did she realize that now Sasuke was free. She made a grab for him, intending to hold him down if it meant sitting on his head, until help arrived to restrain him again. He was slower than her too, weak, and she grabbed him by the arm, hauling him off the bed, ready to slam him onto the concrete floor.

Sasuke could no longer perform jutsus. Most of his attacks where genjutsu based and with his eyes gone, so was ninety percent of his power. Ten percent of Sasuke's power was still very powerful, but he couldn't create hand signs with only one hand, and unless he had a substantial amount of chakra and skill he shouldn't be able to perform any ninjutsu jutsus. All he could possibly have was his tijutsu, but Sakura had kept him weak, with only the minimal amount of chakra to keep him alive. She could defeat him easily in tijutsu.

She wasn't aware that Sasuke could perform ninjitsu without making a hand signal, not at his current state. She had checked his chakra every day. She had just finished checking it moments ago. He would die before completing the jutsu.

The arm she was holding had been the perfect current for the electricity. It sparked in quick blue flairs, thudding against his skin like his own heartbeat. It only took one heartbeat to reach her.

It was weak, but fast and shocking. She didn't lose conscious right away. She was awake when the blue chirping power tried to rip her life away, forcing her heart to spasm against her will.

The room was filled with the flickering light, and the power had short circuited the light switch. The light switch... That's where he had gotten the energy from!

She felt her body spasm and jolt, her hand clamped on his arm without letting go. She couldn't focus her eyes on anything and she could smell the scent of burning flesh.

She saw movement. The door to the cell had opened.

"Oh shit!" That was one of the guards. And then the door was slammed shut again. She briefly realized that she had been abandoned by the guard but was too busy dying to care.

Then she heard him, through the sound of chirping birds, a scream.

Sasuke.

His scream was tumultuous, frustration, fury, pain, agony, sorrow, and full of life. He was so alive. And he was screaming and screaming.

Then she blacked out, the Chidori still dancing across her body.

* * *

Something was pawing at her. She tried to open her eyes but failed. She tried again and blinked, realizing her eyes had been open, but it was too dark to see. She was injured.

Her body began the slow process of healing itself. She laid still to help her chakra. She had been attacked. Sasuke had attacked her.

She was still in the prison cell. And something was pawing at her.

She felt something hit her chest. It wasn't heavy, but it moved like it was searching for something. It had legs, no fingers, skimming around, feeling her, identifying what she was. The fingers closed and pulled, tearing her shirt.

Her arms and legs were too heavy for her to lift. It was best not to move while she was healing her own body, but Sasuke was in the dark with her, and he was free.

There was more tearing as Sasuke ripped her shirt open. Then she felt the calloused hand on her skin. That made her squeak, the rough fingertips carelessly pinching her nipples as it continued to search for what it was looking for.

She began to squirm, and the hand moved faster. She made another noise in protest lifting her head and the hand at once landed on her mouth, pushing her back down hard against the concrete. A new pain rattled in her brain, but before she could tend to that, she felt her pants be jerked and torn.

It wasn't until she was naked on the cold floor and he was in between her legs, did she actually thought she knew what was happening to her. Even after she knew what was happening, she didn't believe it until he was inside her.

She cried out in pain. Her arms, she could move them again, but they were numb and hard of feeling, they swung up over her head as if she could find something to pull her away. They fell down with nothing.

She could hear him huffing in a desperate sort of way. He held onto her hip, though she wasn't sure if she had succeeded in pulling away at all. He drove into her in a frenzy, wet fluids spraying from the friction and dripping down her thighs. Each thrust knocked the air out of her lungs, her voice whimpering with each lost breath.

Finally submitting, she curled her hips to him instead, angling it so she could feel the force of him hit her in her core. She moaned low and loudly, moving with him in a fierce battle.

She wanted him to destroy her.

She started screaming again, but it wasn't from pain. If anything, it was from frustration, that he could not destroy her fast enough. She had waited twenty-one years for him to do it.

Her arms flung up around him, clutching at him, scratching at him. She clawed at him and slapped at him.

And then she came, her body going into a frenzy, shuddering. Her arms dropped to herself to try to contain her soul from flying out into oblivion.

He suddenly, him still pumping into her, made a snarl that almost sounded like a sob and his fist flew into her jaw, cracking a few teeth.

She knew nothing more.


	2. Chapter 2

Part II

She woke again only this time to light. It was too bright. It also caused her to see Naruto's worried face. She immediately closed her eyes. Naruto looking at her like that could only mean she had fucked up again.

"Sakura?" It was quiet, gentle, yet urgent and anxious. "Oh, Sakura." She opened her eyes if only to prevent Naruto from sobbing for her. Her entire body hurt. She began the process of healing herself again.

Her skin was charred, her throat sore and her jaw bruised. Her thick numb tongue poked around inside her mouth and she realized she was missing one of her molars.

Naruto had taken one of her hands and was stroking it, being careful to avoid her burns. "I shouldn't have let this happen to you," he said thickly. "I can't... forgive myself..." He was about to fall to pieces.

"I'm okay," she said in a raspy voice, quick to reassure him. She was fine. She was wonderful.

Naruto looked up at her with red rimmed eyes. "No, you're not," he said darkly. It almost startled her, and she didn't know what to say. He must have known she wasn't dying. It was just a few scrapes. She would be good as new in a day and a half if she continued healing herself.

The hospital room door burst open. "You're awake," Ino stated, dressed for work. There was an awkward silence. Ino and Naruto had always been awkward with each other, like neither one of them knew how to share their friendship with Sakura. She could tell Ino wanted Naruto to leave, but there was no way of moving the Hokage, as he was too busy staring dully at her hand. "What happened?" Ino finally asked. It was a question Naruto probably should have asked already.

Sakura swallowed, trying to wet her mouth. "It was the light switch. I... it should be removed. Light sticks will have to be used moving forward, annoying as it is."

Naruto was shaking his head in despair.

"I won't let it happen again," she reassured.

"You won't let it happen again." Naruto tightened his grip on her hand. "You won't go back to him."

Sakura glared at him. "And who's going to look after him!?"

"Anyone else!" Naruto shouted. Ino flinched but Sakura was not affected.

"And have someone killed?! I can survive any injury and know him better than anyone! The only other person who could possibly be capable of that task is you, but you don't have time for it. We need you to focus on running the village! You shouldn't even be here! You're wasting time! I'm fine! There's nothing to see here."

"He raped you!" Naruto got up from his chair, threw her hand back at her, and began pacing around the room. Ino took a step back away from him. "He hurt you."

"So what? What's the worst that can happen? I'm pregnant? I'll heal from it, like anything else. I'm a ninja of the Leaf." Naruto stared at her with his heartbreaking blue eyes.

Ino cleared her throat. "Lord Eighth," Naruto turned his head to Ino like he forgot she had been there. There were dark circles around his eyes. "Perhaps it's best if you step outside for a moment. I'm sure there are other things you should be doing. I'll take care of her."

Naruto did a quick nod and left. Ino sat in the chair that Naruto had been, giving Sakura a hard stare. "You're not pregnant," she said.

"How do you know?"

"I gave you an emergency contraceptive."

"Why?!"

"Um... because you were raped?" Ino said sarcastically. "Sakura. I don't know what you think Sasuke is, but he doesn't give a shit about you."

Sakura steeled her gaze at her. "I never said any of the sort."

"What the fuck have you been doing there at the prison with him?"

"Monitoring his condition!"

"Naruto says nothing's changed."

"Well someone has to confirm it."

"And what happened yesterday? _Something_ has changed."

"And I was there to confirm it!"

"Good. Now he's good enough to be put to death!"

Sakura's heart started to beat faster. She hadn't thought of that. She hadn't thought of that at all. She was still high on Sasuke's violent touch. The punch to her face was better than any kiss he could have given her. The pain in her jaw lasted a lot longer than a fleeting touch of lips. In fact, she was prolonging from healing it, just so she could feel the throb.

"Do you still have feelings for him?"

"I-"

"Did you let this happen to you?"

"No, it was random. I didn't-"

"We're you trying to have his child?"

"No, I was just _saying_ ," she snapped, tired of Ino interrupting her. "That I could bare it. It wasn't on purpose. That silly guard that was there was a witness. Sasuke attacked me. I had called for help. I was just _saying_ I wouldn't mind a child. You know just in general. You didn't have the right to give me that contraceptive without my consent."

Ino glared at her. "You can't. You can't have a child. It's forbidden."

"I would have retired. It doesn't matter to me. I don't care."

"If you want a child so badly, you could have it with _anyone_ else! Sakura, Sasuke is a fucking _psychopath_."

Sakura was no longer keeping eye contact with her.

"He's an Uchiha! They all are!"

"No, they're not!"

"I know what the fuck's going on here Sakura! You've forgiven him! You've forgiven him for raping you. You've forgiven him for punching you in the face, for destroying other people's villages and families, for changing the Hokage to what he is. You've forgiven him for all his murder and destruction, and you always will, no matter what the fuck he does! Are you really going to let this obsession destroy you? You survived all these years with it and now you're fucking it up! You can't see him anymore. He must die as soon as possible. It's the only way you will get over it."

"What are you talking about? I had a crush on Sasuke when I was twelve, so what? I was a stupid kid. It wasn't real. None of this has anything to do with any sort of feelings for him. I need to prove to everyone that I can work, because for some reason both you and Naruto think I can't! That's why I'm doing this. And I don't know why the two of you are always so concerned about my "emotional health". Naruto, I can understand since he's obviously desperately in love with me, but what do you care? Are you in love with me too? Is that why you don't ever fuck men?"

Ino slapped Sakura in the face. "Because I'm your fucking friend bitch!" Sakura was quiet. Ino's face was bright red, but she didn't cry. She wouldn't cry. "You wanna fucking kill yourself over this, then fine, but you're not putting the village in danger. You're not going back to see him."

"Bring Naruto back. It will be his decision."

"No. If I let you talk to him again, he'll cave. I know he will. You have his dick wrapped around your selfish, little finger. No. You're staying here, and you're not leaving."

"You can't keep me here against my will!"

"Yes, I can!"

Sakura wouldn't stand for it and Ino couldn't physically keep Sakura in the bed, as Sakura was much stronger than her. She proclaimed she was taking this up with the Hokage, if Ino wanted her to or not, Ino close at her heels to argue her point.

Naruto hadn't gotten very far from the hospital room and was at a complete loss on what to do with two women screaming at him. He was able to usher them in an abandoned room that luckily had a door. After he closed the door, he took a deep breath before turning to the two crazy females behind him "What's the matter?"

"She needs to be detained!" Ino shouted before Sakura could say anything. "I suspect that she's conspiring with the enemy!"

"What?!" Sakura gasped.

Ino ignored her, staring pleadingly at Naruto. "You know how she feels about Sasuke. You know."

Naruto swallowed. He did know. "What did she do?"

"Nothing!" Sakura defended herself. "What could I possibly be 'conspiring' about?"

"You plan on saving his life!"

"I've already saved his life! It's my job. If you're talking about helping him escape, why wouldn't I have set him free already?"

"Because you haven't thought you could yet. You were bideing your time."'

"This is ridiculous. Where's your proof!"

"She's right" Naruto suddenly said, turning to Ino. "Where is your proof? Sakura would never turn against her own village." Ino saw the triumph in Sakura's face. It was too late. Naruto had already sided with Sakura.

"She was saying I couldn't leave the hospital either," Sakura tattled. "I'm pretty much completely healed already." It was true. During the argument, Sakura had been awake and healed most of her burned skin. The bruise on her face was even gone, much to her own disappointment.

Naruto lifted his hand, thumbing the spot on the corner of her mouth where the bruise had been. "I guess."

"And I should be able to go back to work."

"Sakura..." Naruto heaved a breath. "No." Ino sighed in relief. Naruto wasn't completely under Sakura's thumb. "You can't. Besides. You won't be needed for much longer. The Kage and I have scheduled a meeting. Sasuke's trial will be next week. You... You shouldn't go."

The argument had been settled with Sakura ending it with a graceful, stubborn, "Fine," that left Ino suspicious and Naruto falling furthering into himself. "If that's the way you feel, then fine. You're the Hokage." She then turned to go, walking out of the room. She asked around for some clothes she could borrow from the nurses, after which she changed out of her hospital gown. Then obtaining the remainder of her things that had survived the attack, she left the hospital with all her dignity still intact, no one stopping her.

Once she was out of eyesight from anyone though, she broke into a panicked run, heading straight to the prison. She wasn't sure how many days she had been in the hospital. It couldn't have been more than 24 hours, she concluded. She wasn't badly hurt, and as soon as she was conscious she healed quickly. She didn't know how long she had been locked in Sasuke's cell. She didn't think that could be more than a few hours, if even that. That stupid guard may have abandoned her, but he couldn't have ignored the situation completely. He must have had run to have gotten help. Otherwise she'd still be in the cell.

Arriving at the prison she discovered that her badge and key still worked. When she started to come across the other people that worked there, they were surprised, but seemed too shock to question her presence. They had to have known what had happened. She strolled down the hall with purpose, ordering people around and asking questions. What had been done with the prisoners while she was out? What was being done about preventing further accidents? Did everyone follow these new procedures? No one was allowed to be alone anywhere in the prison, especially with the prisoners. As for Sasuke Uchiha, his cell was off limits to everyone unless they had direct permission from the Hokage.

She wrote what she heard on a clipboard, acting like she was only testing their knowledge. "And the light switch?" she inquired. The young man was her current victim. He seemed to be too tactless to know how to escape her.

"The light switch?"

She glared her diamond hard eyes at him. "The light switch. The electricity. That's how Sasuke Uchiha obtained chakra to perform Chidori!"

"Oh. I didn't know. I just figured he was like..." The kid didn't get to finish his thought for Sakura was already on the move. He had hurried after her, saying something about keeping to the buddy system, but once she started to get closer to where Sasuke stayed, he seemed to have had conveniently lost her.

She charged to the door of Sasuke's cell, the two guards there standing at attention when she arrived. They did a double take when they realized who she was. The boy that had left her to Sasuke the other day was nowhere to be found. She wasn't surprised. He must have been fired since.

"What the fuck's going on here?!" she declared. They both stared at her blankly. "That light switch still has power. Do you realize how dangerous it is to leave Sasuke Uchiha with a power source?!"

"We-we didn't realize... Is it working?"

"Yes, I've just been told that the power to this light switch was never turned off. We must do so as soon as possible." The room that they were in now was in fact dark. Sakura patiently explained that there had been a misunderstanding, and while all electrical light had been removed in the room that they were standing in, the light switch that led to the light in Sasuke's cell, and the most dangerous, had been left.

She made the two men take apart the light switch, holding up their light sticks for them so they could see. "You just need to clip the wires," she explained.

The one holding the pair of clippers she had given him hesitated. "Shouldn't we turn off the breaker before we clip any wires?"

"Nonsense. There's no time to locate the correct breaker. Besides you just have to trip the wire." Neither of them seemed to know what she was talking about. "See? Do you see that blue one just right over there?" The both of them peered at the wiry mess in the wall, noses almost touching as they tried to see the blue one. There wasn't a blue one.

Sakura knocked them both in the back of the head, hard, catching them before they hit the ground. Once they were out on the floor before her, she took their keys, and hurriedly unlocked the cell to Sasuke's door.

She had to be quick before anyone noticed that the guards had been taken out. She would only be a moment. She just had to see him.

She closed the cell door behind her, shining her light stick through the dark stuffy air. "S-Sasuke?" She could barely see his form, upright, at the far end of the cell. "Sasuke, it's me."

He was sitting on the floor. The bed had been pushed out of reach of him. She shakily unlocked the door to let her get past his bars. She never thought, once, that she was afraid of him. She wasn't worried he would attack her. That wasn't what was making her taste the bile in the back of her throat or make her hands shake. She closed the bars behind her and stepped closer to him.

The chain wasn't attached to his wrist anymore. No, it was around his neck, attached to a cruel looking metal collar. He was wrapped up tightly in something, that she thought at once was a strait jacket with a chakra seal tag on it. They weren't taking any chances. It would have made sense. But no, something was off. He looked smaller.

"Oh, Sasuke!" she dropped her light stick onto the ground, her knees almost buckling. She managed to keep from falling to take the last hasty steps to him.

They had removed his other arm.

Her hands fell onto him, stroking him, feeling him, or what was left of him. She felt Sasuke flinch as she touched him, but he was awake, and she knew that he knew her.

The wound wasn't infected, but it hadn't been done a cleanly as she would have done it. All the blood vessels were closed, the flesh sewed tightly over the stump, but there were small delicate vein fibers of uneven lengths, like the tools they had been using weren't sharp enough. That didn't make sense since the prison had the money for excellent tools. Then she realized what must have happened. They had done it while he had been awake, or at least only drugged enough where he would have still been able to feel it. The pain he would have felt, even if mostly paralyzed at the time, would have been enough to have him flinch, enough for him to have moved the smallest of movements that would have prevented a perfect clean cut that one would have gotten from a truly sedated patient.

Why?

The only reason she could think was to make sure he _could_ feel it. Apparently, the stunt that Sasuke had pulled with the light switch hadn't scared everyone enough to think he was _too_ dangerous to do an operation on him while he was awake. On further inspection, she realized to her horror that they had also castrated him.

Did Naruto order this? It seemed too cruel to have been done by him, but at the same time, Naruto would have cared the most of what had happened to her.

"I'm so sorry Sasuke," she felt the hot tears fall from her cheeks. This was her fault. She had let this happen to him. She should have prevented this. She pulled Sasuke's head to her chest, cradling him as she sobbed. He leaned his weight on her.

In her mind, she thought he did not deserve this. Yes, he tried to escape, but who wouldn't in his position? Other prisoners had tried to escape in the past, but Naruto had never ordered to have their body parts removed as punishment. And to cut off his...

Sakura pulled back, sniffling, wiping the back of her hand across her face. Was it wrong for Sasuke to have sought her comfort in the dark? Was it really rape? It should have been. By all means, she would not have been allowed to give consent, but...

She bit her lip on the spot that had been split before she was forced to heal it. All this time, she had thought of Sasuke as different, as changed. He was still dangerous of course, unstable, unpredictable, but not the same. She hadn't thought he had gained any memory. Him trying to escape didn't mean he knew who he was.

She thought it even more impossible that Sasuke remembered who _she_ was when he had taken her. It was completely primal instinct that made him do it. The original Sasuke wouldn't have taken the time. The original Sasuke would have just killed her.

But primal need didn't give the reason to why he had hit her so. Was he still trying to escape? Did he think she would try to detain him after their... whatever it was, was over?

Or did he know her? Did he remember everything? Did the thought of her cause him pain? Had he known who she was this entire time? It was only now she thought to be wary of him. She let go of him, but he was carrying his head on his own now.

"Th-the trial is next week. I didn't know if you knew... if anyone told you." Most likely not. No one thought he could communicate, and even less likely that anyone wanted to with him. "I... They won't let me see you anymore." She wondered if he would miss her. Unlikely.

She felt her eyes grow warm again. Another sob escaped her, and it was loud, filling her ears so much that she wasn't sure if she heard it.

 _"... annoying..."_

Her sob disappeared in an instant, her throat cleared, and her eyes widened.

"What... what did you say?"

He hadn't moved. She couldn't tell if he had moved his lips at all. Had she imagined him speaking to her?

"Sasuke? What did you say? Say it again."

Silence answered her. She wiped her face with her hand. If Sasuke was in there, if he heard everything she said, tears would get her nowhere. She swallowed, wetting her dry mouth. "You know, that escape attempt you had made wasn't very thought out." She pushed herself up, bringing her mouth to his ear. "You could do better."

She heard a groan from the other side of the cell wall. Sasuke heard it too, his head cocking ever so slightly. One of the guards was starting to wake up.

"Shit," Sakura scrambled up, heading for the door. She turned hastily back to Sasuke. "I'll be back," she promised. "I'll see you again!"

She locked both doors to Sasuke's cage, replaced the keys to their rightful pockets, and began to heal the heads of the men before her. They immediately began to stir, their eyes fluttering.

"What... What happened?" asked one of them.

"You both touched a wire while the power was still on. I told you to trip it first."

"What?" asked the other one. "We were electrocuted?"

"Yes, but not bad. I'm healing you up now."

"Shit! The prisoner!" They both flew to their feet. Sakura let them, rolling her eyes as she saw them start to sway. "Don't move too quickly now. He's still there. See?" She had them peer through the small window in the door, Sasuke a pale blob in the dark, right where they had left him.

One of the guards shivered. "I'll be glad when he's gone."

* * *

For the rest of the week, Sakura attempted to behave like a normal part of society. She went to work at the hospital, she had dinner with her parents, she studied her books, and during her musing she would ask casual questions or just simply listen to the talk around.

The guard that had left her helpless in Sasuke's cell, turned out to be a young man from the Aburame clan. As she had expected, he had been fired. What she hadn't expected was that in his grief, Naruto had taken away the young man's rank and banished the poor boy from the village.

It was clear not all the village agreed with Naruto's decision. Yes, the Aburame had locked her in there, but with Sasuke at the time free, what other choice would he have had? Wouldn't it had been better to sacrifice one person than put in jeopardy the entire ninja village? It didn't help that most people did not care for her. It also didn't help that most people knew that Naruto did, and it was more so then a normal fellow citizen.

She had been avoiding Naruto so that he couldn't think she was up to anything. She wasn't. She had not seen Sasuke again. But she also didn't want him to see it on her face, how much it was affecting her. Four days went by before him seeing a trace of hide or hair of her. He most likely would not have noticed had it been anyone other than Sakura, with how busy he was, but he had noticed _her_ missing presence.

On Wednesday, when she poked her head into his office, there was obvious relief in his face. He was happy to see her, happy to see her functioning.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed in surprise, surprised that she hadn't had a breakdown. "How are you doing?" He wasn't asking about her wounds. Those had healed days ago. It was her mental health.

"I'm concerned," she said.

Naruto's eyes moved away from hers. He knew about what. Anything Sakura had to say would be about Sasuke. He knew that. He knew that would be the case since Sasuke was first captured, but he didn't like having to deal with it. "Listen, Sakura, nothing different is happening without you being the one in charge down there. They're all following the same protocol that you would." Naruto did not know. He assumed she had been following all the rules all this time.

"I heard you banished the Aburame man."

"Yes," Naruto scratched the back of his head, turning it away from her to the window. "You think that was overkill, huh?"

"I've also heard that they removed Sasuke's other arm."

Naruto looked at her then. "Oh," was all he said, and she didn't believe he was focusing on her.

"Did you not know? Did you not give the orders?"

Naruto rubbed his face hard, as if trying to think. "They might have said something along the lines... that he had created a jutsu one handed. I agreed that something must be done. I didn't know what they were going to do, mind you, but I trusted them to use their best judgement."

"They also castrated him."

Naruto stared at her for three seconds. "What?"

"Did you give the orders?"

"No."

"But you agreed to all that was necessary. Was that necessary?"

Naruto stared at her hard, his eyes running over her from head to toe, remembering that Sasuke had been inside of her. "No," he finally said. "It wasn't necessary," but she could tell that he wasn't disagreeing with it. For a brief moment, she wondered if he could be lying to her. But no, Naruto never lied. He couldn't.

"People 'down there' are taking the liberty of making their own decisions. They don't like him, of course, so they're supplying needless torture whenever they have the opportunity. They did a terrible job with the operation."

"How do you know this?" Naruto suddenly asked.

Sakura's heart skipped one beat. "The talk. I told you that. I heard they kept him awake enough during the whole thing, so he would feel it. If your patient is not completely sedated during an operation, the muscles tighten and make it harder to cut, the blood pressure is higher, there is more bleeding-"

"Alright," Naruto sighed, lifting up his hand to stop her. "I'll look into the situation at the prison. It's not going to make much difference, Sakura. He only has two more days until the trial."

He paused, waiting.

She felt nothing. She gave him nothing.

He continued. "I'm not allowing you to go to him again, but I'll make sure his last two days are as painless as possible."

* * *

The trial that Sakura was not allowed to go to started late morning, and Ino was there to babysit her. Ino had claimed that they hadn't gone out to have fun in a while, but there was no hiding what this was.

As they walked to the outdoor market together, Sakura said so, not in the mood for pretending. "He can't speak, you know?" Or at least he wouldn't speak. She was sure he had spoken to her, but all accounts of everyone else claimed him a mute. "He can't say anything to defend himself. Naruto would be the only one trying to give him his fair say. There's no need for Sasuke to even be at his own trial. It shouldn't matter if I went. They should just keep him safe in the prison." She was afraid honestly, if they took Sasuke out of the safety of his cell, any number of people could get at him.

"'You don't think he needs to hear his own sentence?" Ino asked. "We know he knows what it's gonna be. Might as well let him hear the trial so he can see it was a fair one. I can't believe I'm saying this." Ino shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know or give a crap, but this is what Naruto wants, and he's the Hokage."

"We don't even know if Sasuke remembers what he did," she said sullenly. Oh, but she did know.

There was no way of knowing how long the trial would be, so Ino kept her out until midnight, doing her best to distract Sakura. She dressed Sakura up nice and took her out to the bars where the two of them practiced their flirtation and ghosting of men. She didn't know why this activity was so attractive to her, like she was achieving something precious. Was it because she thought rejecting all these people was proving something to Sasuke? If it was, she knew she was really messed up. She wondered why Ino had so much fun doing it.

Ino fell asleep on the floor of her place. She slept along with her for a few hours, but as soon as dawn broke out, she was out the door to find Naruto.

Naruto hadn't gone home that night. He was still sitting at his desk when she bombarded his door at 4:30 in the morning. He wasn't surprised to see her, but it was clear that he wished she wasn't there. He didn't question that she was wearing a crop top or that she smelled like cherry vodka. "Tell me," she said. "I have the right to know, and I rather hear it from you."

That took a little of the dead look out of Naruto's eyes, but it returned soon after as he answered. He spoke slowly, each sentence seemed to take all his breath. "The Kage have all agreed. Condemned to death. Lethal injection. Private execution." She knew. She knew that Naruto would do everything in his power to make Sasuke's death as peaceful as he could, but still with the sentence finally being said out loud, she felt all her joints detach from each other. She sat down on a chair, so she wouldn't fall.

"Tell me... Tell me what he looked like," she finally said.

"Well... there were eight guys holding him with charka bounds, and he had the seal on his chest. He was blind and armless but was standing and walking on his own. The way that he carried himself, it was him...He was in there."

Naruto could see it then too. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I knew he could hear me, and that he recognized me, and yet, it didn't seem like he hated me." Naruto's voice was thick with emotion. "I mean, I know, if he could, he wouldn't have a second thought of taking me down and killing me, but he didn't hate me. Despite everything he's done and said to me before, I don't think he's ever hated me." And Naruto had never hated him, which was plainly said without words.

"Did he speak?"

"No. But I knew anyway." He paused. "Has he spoken to you?"

"No." She shook her head. "He's either mute, or just stubborn, but he doesn't speak." Naruto nodded his head. "When will it be?"

Naruto swallowed. "Ah, two days from now, or tomorrow. I forgot how late it is. I have to go to the Land of Lighting to visit the Village Hidden in the Clouds today. The Raikage there refused to come to the trial. He wanted it to be held in his village."

"That makes zero sense."

Naruto looked at her with tired eyes. "I know. He seems to think his injustice by Sasuke is more than the other villages. I've told him that the trial has already happened, though I made it sound like it happened a lot earlier than it did. He still wants me to go over there to have a meeting. I need to convince him that everything is already said and done, and if he thinks he deserves anything more from me, he can make his demands."

"Wait, you said Sasuke's... You said it was tomorrow. If you go to the Hidden Cloud Village, you won't be back in time."

"I know," Naruto replied guiltily, staring at the floor. "Shikamaru will be in charge while I'm away."

"So, you're avoiding it," she said coldly.

"I can't keep the Raikage waiting. I didn't want to go over there until Sasuke was done being dealt with." The Raikage would have wanted a much more severe punishment. "Dealing with the Raikage's demands are going to take at least a week. It's better if he thinks Sasuke's already dead while making them. I can't delay's Sasuke's execution any more than I already have."

"So, you're running from it!"

"What choice do I have?"

"Delay it. Just until you come back."

Naruto looked at Sakura, startled. "Sakura, you know-"

"He's not going anywhere. The Raikage doesn't need to know that the execution hasn't happened yet. You're leaving before you see it completed anyway. Besides, I will need you. When it happens. Don't let me be all alone, knowing what is happening to him. Please."

They had been talking lowly to each other, conscious of how quiet the early morning was. Because of this, they had to lean close to each other to be heard. Naruto was looking bleak as she spoke.

"You're the only one who's ever really understood me, when it comes to him. When he's gone, when he's finally, actually, really gone, I don't think I'll be the same. A part of me will be gone." She took his hand. It was loose in her grip. "I'm afraid. Please. Be there for me. Keep me safe." They were so close to each other. They had always been close. The loss of Sasuke had brought them this close to each other, but at the same time it was the thing that had always kept them apart.

Naruto was tired. He was so tired. Or he would have noticed how close Sakura's mouth was to his. He would have stopped her before it brushed his.

The kiss was chaste, mostly because Sakura was surprised he hadn't pulled away those few inches. Naruto seemed equally surprised that he hadn't pulled away as well.

And then the hand that wasn't being held by Sakura was behind her head, bringing her closer. The kiss was warm, soft and wonderfully sweet, everything that she had rejected, and everything that Sasuke was not. For a startling second, Sakura almost thought she was in love with Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto abruptly stood up, so fast that Sakura almost fell off her seat. "Go," he said darkly.

Sakura touched her lips fearing that she had gone too far. She had fucked up.

"I will delay Sasuke's execution until after I return," he said. "But you need to leave right now."

She nodded her head quickly and scrambled out of the room.

* * *

Naruto tightened his rules up at the prison before he left, or rather made sure that Sakura would not have any more access. Her keycard no longer worked, and if she got too close to the building, the people gave her a suspicious gaze, as if watching to see if she were to try to break in.

The change of date to Sasuke's execution was never announced, but neither was the original date. And yet the people knew he wasn't dead yet. There was an uneasy tension throughout the entire village. When the Kage had come for the trial, many other people from other villages had come with them, hoping for a chance to see the downfall of Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto hadn't allowed many people to participate in the trial to most everyone's disgruntlement. Sakura was worried, without her supervision at the prison, if Sasuke was being well cared for, and without Naruto around, there was no one to enforce the law. With too many strangers in the village she knew she had to see Sasuke again.

Three days after Naruto had left, Sakura went to his house.

Hinata answered the door. She didn't say anything at first, and Sakura wondered if she knew of that kiss her and Naruto shared three days ago. "Sakura," she said uncertainly. Sakura had never gone to Naruto's house before. "Naruto's not here. He's gone to the hidden Cloud village."

"Yes, I know. That's why I've come to you. Maybe you could help me."

"Yes, of course. Please come in."

She followed Hinata into the house, staring at the back of her glossy black head. She realized she didn't know the wife of the Hokage. She hadn't known her for a long time. Hinata had retired ninja life to become a mother.

Hinata brought Sakura to the living room before she disappeared to make tea. As Sakura waited, she looked around the room of the many pictures of Naruto's family, with a mix of jealousy and dismay.

Hinata returned with the tea, setting it down on the little table before them and sitting across from Sakura. "Now, how can I help you?" she asked.

Sakura didn't know where to start. She didn't even know how much Hinata knew of the situation. Did the Hokage tell his wife everything? She certainly must know more than most. Naruto wouldn't have told Hinata about the kiss though, she tried to reassure herself. But it was also possible that Hinata knew of Naruto's feelings regardless. Naruto wasn't good at hiding them.

"I need access... to a certain prisoner."

"Sasuke Uchiha," Hinata answered. She did know. Sakura stared into Hinata's strange white eyes. One never truly retired from being a ninja.

"Mom!" Sakura's attention snapped down the hallway where a young boy with unruly blond hair stood. "Where's my red jacket?"

"It's in the wash, sweetie. Why don't you take your sister to the park today? You can wear your black jacket." The boy at first looked like he would argue, but after catching the gaze of his mother he quickly agreed and left to gather his sister.

Hinata turned back to Sakura. "My children," she addressed needlessly. They waited until the both of them had left before continuing the conversation.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Hinata started again. "And why do you need to see him?"

Sakura was again unsure on how to continue, not knowing how much Hinata knew. "Sasuke Uchiha's execution has been postponed until the return of your husband," Sakura stated, just now grabbing the tea so she could have something else to focus on rather than Hinata's eyes.

"I've been told."

"Most, if not practically all the village is unhappy with this decision."

"I've heard that as well," Hinata stated, carefully keeping her opinion out of her voice.

"I fear that while the Hokage is gone, some people may take advantage of his absence and try to harm the prisoner for their own interests."

This seemed to make Hinata a little more alarmed. "What makes you think that?"

In truth, nothing, she was just looking for an excuse to see him, but with Hinata's reaction she knew something must be wrong. "You know something," and it wasn't a question.

"I don't know anything. I just hear things." She almost sounded bitter as she sipped her tea and looked out the window. "The whole situation has been very hard on him... on Naruto. He doesn't like to talk about it and I don't like to make him talk about it." She turned to Sakura then, like that was somehow her fault. "I just want this to be over for him, but I..."

"What have you heard?" Sakura asked again, wanting to keep the conversation on track.

"The guard that was banished, was of the Aburame clan. Shino told me that he suspects that this man may not have wandered too far from the village. Before he left the village, Shino heard him talk about bringing down Uchiha himself, to prove that he wasn't a coward." Abandoning a woman to the terrible Sasuke Uchiha could not have looked favorable by anyone, no matter who the woman happened to be. " No one had taken him seriously, but no one really thought he deserved his banishment either. He had close friends at the prison."

"And you didn't tell any of this to Naruto?"

"It didn't seem to be a deep concern. Besides, I don't think anyone knew this was going to take this long." There was a pause.

"But now you're starting to hear the talk again."

Hinata touched her lip worriedly, shaking her head. "Sasuke," Hinata met Sakura's eye. Sakura was only vaguely aware on how the Byakugan worked. She was afraid how much Hinata could read her with just a glance. "He's a terrible person, and I hate him," she said coldly. "I hate him because of what he's done to Naruto. I don't care what happens to him. But still, the thing Shino described on what they had wanted to do to him, doesn't seem like anyone, no matter what they've done, deserves." Hinata got up. "I'll... help you see him. Just to check." She disappeared into what must have been a home office before returning with some documents.

"This will give you permission to enter the prison," she said, forging Naruto's signature with horrifying skill. "And this, gives Sasuke Uchiha permission to go through any treatment that may be required, if anything _has_ happened to him."

Hinata hesitated in letting the papers go as she handed them to Sakura. "It may be better... just to put him out of his misery, if you have to. If that's the case, then all of this will finally be over."

Sakura thanked her. Then practically ran to the prison with her documents. Hinata hadn't told her what they had planned on doing to Sasuke, and she found that all the more terrifying.

Once she arrived she knew something was terribly wrong. The air was too thick, she could hardly breathe. She entered the building, shouting, demanding she be taken to Sasuke Uchiha, waving Naruto's signature like a flag. The staff were startled, reluctant, but she wasn't stopped. She couldn't be stopped. She pushed anyone out of her way that tried.

She thought she had smelled it when she first entered the building, a sickly retched stank enveloped her, that she first thought was the scent of her own fear. When she got to the bottom floor, it was impossible not to smell it. When she got to the door of Sasuke's cell, she was ready to perform murder.

The guards were startled to see her. Before she said anything, they jumped, looking like they wanted to run away. "What-what are you d-"

"What's that smell?!" she demanded.

"What?" the other asked in shock.

"Open this cell right now, by order of the Hokage."

"The Ho-"

" _Right now!_ "

"You can't expect to go in there! Especially you. You know-" She grabbed him by the front of the shirt and flung him several feet where he bounced painfully against the cement floor. The other guard hurriedly try to unlock the door before he was next. He was taking too long in his nervousness, so she grabbed the keys from him and opened the cell herself.

By then the smell hit her so hard that she nearly vomited. The guard next to her did so. She held her nose. "How could you let this happen?!" she hissed. The guard was too busy throwing up to answer. "The both of you must have noticed. You can smell it for miles!" He was dead. She knew it. He had to be dead.

She was terrified of what she'd find but she had to know, had to see. She staggered into the dark, suffocating space with her light stick. It smelled like vomit, feces and rotten flesh with just the hint of something sweet. She had to breathe through her mouth to get anywhere closer.

Inside the cell she began to hear it. A whisper crackling noise. She was covered in her own sweat, it dripping into her eyes as she waved her light stick around trying to find him. She could see his body still chained to the wall, but he wasn't holding himself up. As she stepped closer, something crunched under her feet. She pointed her light stick toward the ground. The floor looked like it was moving.

She gave a start when she realized something was crawling up her arm, and she brushed it away. It was an ant. They were ants. And they were everywhere.

She rushed over to Sasuke, who was sitting in a puddle of vomit, diarrhea and congealed blood. That much she knew from the smell alone. It even seemed to burn her eyes, but she forced them on his body, trying to see what had done this. He was naked, all his bindings were no longer there, and the chakra seal was also gone.

And then she saw the most nightmarish thing she had ever seen.

She screamed.

He was covered in them. The ants were crawling in and out of his empty eye sockets as they had eaten the eyelids, as well as much of his skin, coming in and out of his nose, mouth and ears.

Her scream made her scramble away from him, but the most horrid thing of it all was that he had heard her. His head moved to the sound of her voice. He was still alive.

That was when she actually vomited.

The ants were now crawling on her. She swatted at them hastily as she felt a few of them bite her. She turned to the open door, where the guard who was also vomiting was still on his knees. "You! Get me a gurney. We need to take him to the surgery!" The guard blinked at her. "Now! Or I'll pull you in here and make you carry him yourself!" The guard scurried away.

She took a moment to gasp at the putrid air, trying to get enough oxygen for her brain to comprehend the situation. She almost couldn't look at him again. Oh, but she would. She would never abandon him.

She broke the chain and picked him up, ignoring the bugs crawling on her, and began carrying him part of the way since she knew the guard with the gurney would be too slow.

Once arriving at the surgery, she laid Sasuke on one of the surgical tables, giving orders. Not everyone listened to her, but with the few that did, the rest began to follow. She didn't know who she could trust at the prison, so she requested the names of several nurses that she worked with at the hospital. These people were young, looked up to her, and would come if she called them. Also, "Call Shino Aburame!"

She quickly tied up her hair, putting on her scrubs though she already knew that many of the ants had already gotten underneath her clothes. She slapped at them from time to time but found there wasn't much she could do about them. She ordered the rest of her staff to suit up to protect themselves.

The staff around her halfhearted seemed to try to help, until they noticed the ants, which then caused them to quickly change their minds. She ignored all of them, attaching the infusion pump to a vein in Sasuke's neck. It was hard to find because his throat was swollen and bruised from the collar, and there were so many ants still crawling on his skin. Finding a place to put all the monitor sensors was also a challenge. When finally, some of the nurses she had summoned arrived she set them to work on that. They hadn't been prepared for what was being ask of them though, and many flung themselves away when seeing the horror that was once Sasuke Uchiha.

"Suit up and put respirators on," Sakura told them. She was going to need to poison the ants. That was the only way.

Sasuke was having trouble breathing, the insects blocking his airways. She used compressed air to try to clear them, but more would just crawl in the way. He was awake, though weak, and she tried to give him some morphine to ease the agony he must have been in. He had no chakra. The ants had eaten that too. She wouldn't be able to save him this time. The computer monitors were finally starting up, telling her information that she already knew. Respiration, slow. Heart rate, inconsistent. Blood pressure, nearly nonexistent. This was it. He was dying.

And yet she couldn't give up.

She felt his shallow heart beat through every muscle of her arm, louder than her machines, because it pulsated within her. The only thing louder was his breath.

As the nurses slowly came to their senses, some of them too busy throwing up or cowering in the corner, she directed them to heal the tender parts that had been eaten away by the ants. His tongue, eyelids, ears lopes and genitals were all badly damaged. While they did that, she doused his body in poison, trying to kill the ants. Sasuke was immune to most poisons, so it wouldn't hurt him further.

That was why poison hadn't been used initially, she realized. They had needed to assassinate him in another way.

Poison, though cruel in its own way, was nothing like this, this slow agonizingly eating alive type of way. She rinsed him with water after the poison, trying to clean his skin from the blood, feces and vomit he had been lying in. There was something else on him too, something with a rancid milk smell and with a sticky substance that she swore was honey but was not going to taste it to find out. So, they had covered him in sugar, and possibly forced fed it to him as well until he was sick. His wounds were teeming with infection. It would take all of their efforts to battle the microscopic enemies.

When Shino arrived, he didn't announce himself. Because of this she wasn't so sure how long he had been standing there. "Shino!" she exclaimed once she looked up and noticed him.

"You're trying to save him," he stated, like he couldn't believe it. It made her wonder if he was part of this.

"What do I do?"

"Even if you poison the adults, the eggs and pupas will still be nestled deep within the host."

"And how do I get rid of those!?" She cried impatiently.

"Why are you trying to save him? He's a murderer and a traitor."

Sakura glared at him. "If you refuse to help me, I will te-"

He raised his hand. "It was just a question." The ants that were crawling on the floor started to move in a more orderly fashion. "It's a shame you doused the body with poison. So many more of them will die as they locate their offspring."

The ants, the ones still alive, began to reenter Sasuke's body. The nurses shied away. They were already squeamish when they first arrived. Only a few stayed, hoping that they might be rewarded or promoted, she thought. Sakura clenched her fists, wanting to slap the ants away. At first, she though Shino had betrayed her, but the ants started crawling out of the body, round white eggs stuck to their backs. They were crawling out of Sasuke's open wounds though, and if she had anything left in her stomach, she would have vomited again. It took fifteen minutes for the billions of ants to leave Sasuke and go to Shino, which was really quite impressive, but it still felt like an eternity to her.

As the number of ants began to slow, she had her staff start to heal the open wounds, but she was beginning to notice that his intestines were badly damaged. That's where the ants must have been making their home. She would have to do so much to repair the tissues.

How long had he been like this? This couldn't have happened before Naruto left. Whoever did this wouldn't have risked the Hokage's wrath. So only three days at the most. The damage couldn't be much greater than what she had already found, still Sasuke had been dealing with this for three days, being eaten alive.

"Am I dismissed?" Shino asked, after standing there in silence for ten whole minutes.

 _If you're not going to do anything more,_ she wanted to say, but instead she said, "Yes, thank you." Sasuke had fallen asleep from his exhaustion. At least he wasn't currently suffering.

It took three hours for Sakura to be convinced that Sasuke was now stable, in which then she dismissed the other nurses. Sasuke's cell was now inhabitable and she used the excuse to put Sasuke in a nicer cell. This one was cleaner, had a window, and a nicer bed. She hooked him up to all her medical equipment, not caring that they involved electricity, and stayed by his side twenty-four hours a day, using her chakra to heal him.

Anyone that would argue with her could do nothing of the new set up. She was too strong to be moved, and no one was brave enough to try to relocate the Uchiha. New guards were put by his door, and a new chakra seal was placed on him for precaution, but that was all Sakura had done. He had no chain, he wore nice hospital clothes to keep him warm, and he was safe. Sakura's only plan was to stay by his side until Naruto returned. Then she didn't know what she would do. She thought perhaps once Sasuke was executed, she herself would just no longer exist.

She had given him all her attention, focusing on his internal organs, many of them having to had been repaired when he was under surgery, the rotted and damaged parts cut away so that the new cells could regenerate. He couldn't eat or drink, so all nutrients and fluids were given to him through an IV. He needed a catheter. He had a canula. He had gone through 15 liters of blood since the time of the operation until recovery. But he was alive.

His skin had been badly damaged, but the nurses had done a good job at putting him back together the best they could. There seemed no point to try to rebuild Sasuke's eyelids, but they cleaned up the sockets in his head. Parts of his tongue were now missing, but if it effected his speech she never knew. His lips and ears were sewed back together, the healed scars little indentations in the skin, but from far away it wasn't too noticeable. He was pitiful to look at, but with all his wounds healed it wasn't too terrible.

She hadn't slept. She'd hardly eaten. What was the point if Sasuke could not eat? She continued her treatment, healing his scarred tissues and introducing solid food to him once again. Unlike the first time she had brought him back from the brink of death, she was now able to spend twenty-four seven with him, which sped up his healing process.

"I'm never leaving you again," she told him, and she didn't. She couldn't. She sat with him, in companionable silence. Even she had run out of things to say to him, but it didn't matter anymore. They were together and the both of them were alive. He mostly slept as he was healing. She was contented to just breathe the same air as he was. She loved to listen to him breathe, soft yet sturdy, as if whispering to her that everything was fine now.

The only time Sakura ventured to open the door to the outside world was to ask for supplies, mostly fresh water as there wasn't a sink in the cell. But she also asked for food, and medicines for her machines.

She hadn't slept in days.

Guards where standing outside the cell. Sasuke still had to wear a chakra seal of course. If she went home to take a nap and change her clothes, he should be fine, but yet she couldn't leave him.

She still made Sasuke walk around the room for exercise, but this was starting to tire _her_ out. It felt highly inappropriate to lay down in the bed with him. The thought that she thought that was inappropriate while the other things she had done was not, was insane. She was insane.

She undressed herself to her underwear. She hadn't bathed in forever, but the air on her skin made her feel a little cleaner. Sasuke was only as clean as he could be with her sponge bathing him. He shouldn't mind, she had thought. She pressed her knee to the bed. Sasuke turned his ear to her as the mattress sank. That's what he did when she had his attention. He heard everything.

She felt him listen to her with interest, as she swept her other leg over him. She had no thought that this was dangerous. He was only a man, and she only a woman. She settled onto the bed, her chest pressed against his side, her head resting on his shoulder as he breathed, soft and steady. He and her both found their peace in that very moment, and she slipped into unconsciousness, listening to his heartbeat.

* * *

Her dreams, of being permanently attached to the mountain of security, were destroyed as she fell. She was falling forever, away from her everything. She was light as a leaf, and the current was pushing her this way and that, rocking her back and forth to oblivion. She was going down.

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped in a huge breath as her back gently touched the sheets of her own bed. She had been fluttering slowly down, but with her wakefulness, she suddenly plunged, as the large hands that were holding her dropped her.

Her eyes scanned her own room before landing on Choji who was bright red as a tomato, and making spluttering noises.

"Choji, what the _fuck_ are you doing?!" She looked down at herself. She was wearing one of the white hospital robes that they gave to some of the patients. That's right, she had taking off her clothes. She also thought that she smelled a hint of chloroform on her breath.

She glared back at Choji, who was holding up his hands as if expecting to have to block a punch. "I-Ino told me to! She said you needed to be taken home!"

Sakura clenched her teeth. She had been taken away from Sasuke. Before she could process what that could mean, her eyes flickered to the jar on her bed stand still covered by her shirt. Choji had followed her gaze as well, confused. She grabbed the jar, hugging it to her chest, covering it with her robe.

"Go home, Choji." She slid off the bed, but Choji got in her way.

"I can't let you leave. Ino said!" Sakura's heart started to pound so hard, she could hear it hitting the glass of the jar.

"Why?" she asked.

Choji was sweating. "She just said, okay? Listen, you're tired. You need to rest. Get back into the bed."

She took a step to the door, and Choji immediately expanded both of his hands, completely blocking her path.

She feinted towards the door, Choji bracing himself for her impact, which he knew could send him flying to the other side of the earth, but instead she switched direction in the last minute, and ran through her window.

The window was closed of course, she crashed through it, holding the jar safely against her chest, and hit the ground before Choji could even think to make a grab for her. She started running. She knew something was terribly wrong as soon as her feet touched the ground outside. It was humid and warm, and she couldn't breathe.

There were a lot of people out today. She had to dodge them as she ran through the street. She could have taken to the roof tops, but with this many people it would help conceal her if Choji thought of pursuing her.

Why were the streets so crowded? Looking around, she didn't recognize most of the faces she saw, but they were most definitely ninja, wearing the headbands of their nations. They must be the ninja that had come to witness Sasuke's trial. Some Konoha ninja were mixed into the fray as well, and even the odd villager non-ninja. The crowd was loud, and cheering, a strong scent of booze and sweat coming from their bodies. She was shoved along, as the crowd seemed to have a set destination in mind.

Then she was knocked into Ino. "Sakura!" Sakura scrambled away from Ino, clutching her jar. "Where's Choji?!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Last I saw, he was in my bedroom, where you told him to bring my unconscious body."

Sakura saw Ino mouth the word, "Fuck," before she stated, "You had fallen asleep. Of course, I had him take you home! You need to go back to bed. If you lose too much chakra you can seriously harm yourself."

Ino was bullshitting her. Yes, she had been so tired that she may have been dead to the world for a few moments, but she wasn't close to dying from it, not yet. Something else was going on. Unfortunately, she was tired, and was having a hard time processing her surroundings.

"What is that?" and before she could even think to answer, Ino was pulling the jar out of her arms. Sakura held on and gave a good tug to pull the jar back to her, but not before Ino saw what was in it. "Is that..." Ino had let go, no chance in winning a tug-o-war with Sakura. "Is that what I think it is?!"

Sakura didn't answer, just hid the jar with her robe better.

"Are you fucking _insane!?_ What are you even supposing to do with _that_?!"

Sakura ignored her. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked darkly instead.

"Why? Are you planning on giving that to him?"

"WHERE IS HE?!" Sakura screamed. Before Ino could say anything, a bunch of shouts were distantly heard. Sakura's head whipped around to the sound, and then she bolted.

She knocked people over in her haste. No. No this couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening.

She followed the noises and the congestion of the crowd. She could hardly move forward with how many people were in her way, but she kept pushing. They pushed back. She hadn't wanted to kill anyone, but her panic made her twist the arms and bodies away and she heard bones break in her haste. She knew he was there just by how rowdy the crowd had gotten.

"SASUKE!" she wasn't tall enough to see him. All she could see where bodies throwing things and punching. She crouched down, wiggling her way through legs.

There he was.

They had taken him out of the prison, dragging him on the ground. He was being pulled by several people, all making a grab for him, a rope tied around his neck. The people that couldn't get to him settled for kicking him, throwing rocks and rotten food as he past. He twisted helplessly, unable to get his feet underneath him as he was dragged in the dirt, his skin red and bleeding, his clothes ripped.

"What are you doing?! Stop it!" but her voice was lost in the cries and jeers of the crowd and Sasuke was soon pulled out of her eyesight. She looked around, trying to find a faster way around all the people. Maybe if she tried the rooftops!

She moved away from the crowd, trying to find Sasuke. It looked like someone was attempting to gather the attention of the people, his hands up as he circled around the down body of Sasuke, and the people still trying to hurt him. She recognized that man. It was the Aburame guard.

"Let the poor bastard stand up!" he said to the crowd, a wide cruel grin on his face. They had stopped by the only tree inside the village. Sasuke did not stand up, but the men around him hoisted him up anyway. "There we go," The Aburame took the rope that had been attached to Sasuke's neck in his hands. Then he gave it a tug, causing Sasuke to fall forward and straight into his fist.

The crowd went wild.

"Stop!"

Everyone else cheered. People started throwing things again, some of them being knives and ninja stars. The ones that struck tore into him, sticking into him or flying by. Many of them missed, in order to avoid Aburame. They weren't thrown by ninja that were upper rank. Most of the loudest of them didn't seem to be ninja at all, or maybe just low ranked foreigners. There were higher ranked ninja in the crowd. She had seen them. But they were just watching, doing nothing.

She was finally allowed to jump into the clearing around Sasuke that the Aburame man had made. The wind was picking up slightly and it was tousling her hair as she glared at the man in a rage. "What are you doing?!" Even as she shouted this, the other men around had already hauled Sasuke to his feet and was throwing the end of the rope over the lowest tree limb. It was obvious on what they were doing.

The Aburame man paused, wondering if he should explain before deciding to. "Executing this prisoner."

"This _p_ _risoner_ ," she had to reframe from tearing the Aburame man's limbs off. She softened her hold on the jar, so it wouldn't crack. "... is not scheduled for execution until after the return of the Hokage."

"The Hokage has been delayed another week."

Her eyes widened. Had it really been that long? She hadn't noticed. "But-"

"Unfortunately, the Hokage hasn't returned in time for the execution, but it was scheduled for today. There was no order to wait for him, so we must proceed."

"No, wait. This is wrong." Sasuke's sentence was lethal injection and it was quite clear that these people meant to hang him. Wait a minute. "You... You're not supposed to be here. You're banned from the village."

The Aburame narrowed his eyes at her. "Like I said, the Hokage is not here," he answered. Then he turned to the rest of the crowd. "Who here thinks this man is innocent?!" The people all shouted, spewing out things that Sasuke Uchiha had done. "Has this man not been found guilty at trial?!" More cheers. "Has he not been condemned a murderer, a traitor, a rapist?" he added that last one with a smug look in her direction.

The men holding Sasuke up started tightening the rope and a small wooden step was brought to put him on. He was a little too tall, his hair brushing the edge of the branch. They had to hold him for him to stand.

Sasuke was about to be hanged right before her eyes. What could she do? There were too many of them. Even if she managed to get Sasuke away, where would she go with him?

But then she got an idea in her desperation. "Stop! Stop, look what I have!" She held out her jar and leapt to another rooftop so that the entire crowd could see. "I have the last of the Uchiha's eyes!"

The crowd hushed, staring up at her in amazement like she could unleash the powerful genjutsu that floated inside the glass jar.

"Why should Konoha even _have_ the eyes?!" she heard someone shout. "They couldn't even control the Uchiha when they were alive!" And there were more shouts.

"Well maybe _no_ one will get them! If you kill Sasuke Uchiha before the Hokage returns, I will smash the eyes and their powers will be gone forever!" The crowd suddenly became quiet. Most of the crowd seemed to be foreigners, but with the few Konoha member here and there. She recognized a few faces.

Sasuke, who had been too busy trying to breathe, also now had her attention. His ear was cocked to her and his breathing had slowed, a drool of blood still hanging from his mouth from where he had been punched. She noticed that they had given him another charka seal. It looked like this one was nailed to his chest with a staple gun, hanging onto his skin even after most of his shirt had been torn. No way for him to tear it off with his nonexistent hands, and it was a little too far down on his torso to be caught within his teeth.

The sky began to sprinkle, cooling the humid hot air just slightly, but it was still hard to breathe. Right now, she was just buying her time. She didn't have a plan. She didn't plan on placing the jar down by her feet or taking that step back. Wait. Why was she moving?

 _Are you crazy?! There are Konoha witnesses here! They've just seen you with that jar._

That was Ino's voice. And it was coming from inside her head.

 _You're going to go home, and I'll try to figure out some story._

Sakura was jumping down from the building now, not in control of her body.

 _INO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

She slowed, body trembling as the both of them try to get a hold of it. _Sasuke's dead Sakura! He's been dead. He's been dead since he was twelve. He hasn't been the Sasuke you loved since then. You need to let him go! You need closure. Don't watch if you can't._

 _No. Not like this._

Now that the eyes didn't seem to be in danger anymore, the people turned to each other confused, until one of them shouted to get on with it already. Sakura forced her head to turn to see, Ino trying to turn it away with all her power, but Sakura had always been stronger than her.

Chaos ensued.

People crowded Sasuke, reaching at him, tearing him with fingers and knives. He was too tall. The rope was too short. Someone had climbed onto the tree, looking like they were trying to find a better place to tie the rope. At this rate she wasn't sure if the rope would even be needed. They were stabbing him. Over and over, his head thrown back from the pain, mouth open with a silent scream that was halted from the noose around his neck. The crowd was noisy, but she thought she could hear him trying to gasp. She felt his heart pounding in her head.

 _"STOP!"_ And it was her own voice. She had pushed Ino out and was running back. "Please stop!" His blood was everywhere. It coated the faces of the monsters all around as they slowly tore away his life, stabbing and stabbing. She couldn't get to him. Ino had led her farther away and there were too many bodies in the way. She grabbed one un-expectant one and threw him back. Then the next.

Someone had made an attempt to reach for the jar that had been left on the roof when another tried to stop him. The jar fell, shattered on the ground, and the eyes were lost in a storm of feet.

 _"SASUKE!"_

She could hear his flesh being torn from the mob.

"FIGHT BACK! FIGHT THEM!" She threw another person out of the way. What was she expecting Sasuke to do? He had lost his power. He had lost everything.

But not her. He hadn't lost her. She was almost there. He was just a few more feet away. There was about five more people on him now. She grabbed one, threw whoever it was farther than the rest, not caring if it killed him.

And then everything stopped. Everyone stopped moving including her. Silence fell and for a second she could not even think.

"What the fuck is going on here?" She was able to turn her head to the voice, but it was difficult. Shikamaru was standing not too far away, having caught everyone in the vicinity in his Shadow Imitation Technique. He took two steps back, which caused the entire crowd to take two steps back as well.

It allowed her to see Sasuke better. He still had managed to keep one toe on the stool, which was tittering and threatening to fall over. The rope was taunt against his neck and pulling him to the side, closer to the tree. He was bleeding freely, minor cuts all over his body, but much deeper ones in his stomach, just below the chakra seal tag, where people had most reach of him. His core was an incomprehensible bloody mess. He had lost so much weight since he had first come to Konoha, his muscle mass had shrunk, and his rib bones stuck out in the stretched position he was in. She could see inside of him. She could see his organs in the mass of bloodied flesh, pressed to the opening of his wounds, no arms for him to hold himself together. Each breath expended his chest, stretching him wider, each pump of his heart shuddering his body with his own pulse.

"I feel like I don't have to say, that the responsibility of Sasuke Uchiha's execution was not given to the lot of you," Shikamaru said darkly. "This needs to stop right now. To the ones of you that are Konoha, you are deliberately disobeying the Hokage's demands, and for the rest of ya, I'll be reporting to your Kage over the fact that you are attacking a Konoha citizen."

"He's no citizen of ours, Shikamaru!" she heard a faint cry.

"Nonetheless he's under our custody. I'll be taking all your names as annoying and troublesome that will be."

Sakura was weeping tears of relief when Shikamaru had arrived. He caught her eye, and released the shadow control over her, nodding his head to have her come over to him. She quickly did so.

"Thank y-"

"He's dying Sakura," he told her quietly so as no one else could be listening. "Do you have anything on you to put him out of his misery?"

Sakura blinked at him. "No."

Shikamaru swore, most likely blaming her for being a ninja unprepared. "I don't want to have to move him again. Nothing's been scheduled or planned since Naruto had been unable to return in time. I rather get this done as soon as possible. You're going to have to do it."

"Wha-what?"

"Just stop his heart. I'll have Ino do it instead if you can't. I just know that you're not going to torture him while doing it. He must be in a great deal of pain. If you don't, he'll just die slowly."

Sakura looked back over to Sasuke, still freely bleeding. There was a stab wound above the chakra seal that looked like it might have cut into the aorta artery, and even though Shikamaru wasn't a medical ninja, even he could see that he was bleeding to death. Or perhaps it was just the bloody mess that was showing of Sasuke's organs. Yet, Sasuke still had that one toe on the stool, straining his body to live. He wasn't trying to die. Not once while he was in her care did he try to kill himself, like many of her other patients. If he had wanted to die, he could have. If he had given up, during the operation on his brain, or the assassinate attempt with the ants, he would be dead now. Sasuke Uchiha wanted to live.

"I can save him," she said instead. Shikamaru looked at her in surprise. He hadn't known her as well as Ino and Naruto. He didn't know that she was crazy.

"I'll have Ino do it then," he answered, ignoring her. Sakura was once again trapped in his shadow jutsu.

"No! Please! I can save him!" She saw Ino approaching from behind them, coming to carry out Shikamaru's order. "Naruto isn't back yet!"

Then she heard the rumble of distant thunder. "Oh no," she whispered. She spared another look at Sasuke. He hadn't caused the thunder storm. There was no way he could have, but it was too risky. They shouldn't be here. "We need to get him inside. Stop! Don't do it! Don't get close to him! We need to take him away from here!" Sakura was promptly ignored.

And at that moment, Sasuke's toe slipped.

Shikamaru raised his hand, stopping Ino. It didn't matter anymore.

The drop that Sasuke made was too small to have broken his neck right away. He swung, his body convulsing from slowly being strangled to death. Each jolt he did was like a smash in Sakura's heart. She couldn't breathe either, as if she was on the noose's end. It could take up to fifteen minutes for him to die this way. "Please!" She suddenly had breath in her lungs, pleading to Shikamaru. "Please cut him down! Cut him _down!_ NO!" She sobbed. She screamed. She begged. The crowd jeered and whooped, Sasuke still twitching and convulsing, blood dripping from his body onto the ground. It started to rain harder, drowning the noise of the crowd out, but not Sakura's screams. She could hear nothing, her blood pounding in her ears. Sasuke's breath had stopped. She couldn't hear it anymore.

And then there was a flash of light and a booming noise that was louder than even Sakura's voice. It was like God himself had tried to strike down the Uchiha. The branches of the tree were flying in every direction and hitting people. Shikamaru was so shocked that he momentary released everyone his hold. Sakura had thought that the tree had exploded. No. It was still standing, though in worse shape. It had simply been struck by lightning. The inside of it glowed from the heat of the lightning. The branch that Sasuke was on had stayed intact and he was still hanging and still dying. The tree had caught on fire, and the flames licked him, catching on to the tattering parts of his clothing. The crowd shouted up at the sky, as if they had just witnessed something divine.

But their prisoner was still alive, slowly twitching and spinning in the air.

"Please," she pleaded to Shikamaru. "Please, please, please." Her voice was but a whisper, exhausted from her screaming.

Shikamaru swore when he realized that Sasuke was in fact not dead yet. He nodded to Ino again to end the process.

Sasuke's body had caught on fire, but the fire was suddenly growing faster than it should have been. Sakura thought she noticed the chakra seal had been damaged by the flame. And then Sasuke's body curled up, his knees coming to his chest, his feet rising up to the head of the closest person, which happened to be the Aburame man, locked, twisted and broke the man's neck.

She hadn't been looking at Shikamaru, as she was so focused on Sasuke, but she could feel him gape at what just happened, as well as everyone else in the vicinity. The cracking of the man's neck had been louder than the lightning. It had been done so perfectly, swiftly and precise, as if Sasuke was showing everyone the correct way of killing someone.

The fire burned through the rope and Sasuke fell to the ground, his legs still locked under the dead man's head. He flung the body with his legs at the closest person. And then everything else started to happen too fast. God hadn't come down to take the prisoner after all. It was the devil himself who had descended, and he was here for all of them.

She heard Shikamaru start, which made her turn to him. Out of nowhere, there was a large snake and it had sunk its fangs into his heal. Before she could process this, Ino was there, cutting off the snake's head. Immediately Shikamaru began to look sick. Ino clutched him, and slowly brought him to the ground. She removed the head of the snake, putting her chakra infused hand to the wound before turning her head to Sakura. "Sakura! You're better at poison than I! Help!"

But Sakura was frozen where she was, her gaze turning back to Sasuke. He was still on fire, but the fire was his. He had used it to sear and seal up the wounds in his torso. He had gotten his feet underneath him, and as others attempted to bring him down, he swung and kicked, driving the knives and weapons meant for him into the other bodies, breathing out bouts of fire to help keep his balance with his lack of arms. "He's going to kill everyone here," she whispered. He was. It was his art. He didn't waste time on torture or causing pain. There was no purpose to it. He kept some of them alive just enough, so he could absorb their chakra with his contact, and then he killed them. He had been more merciful than any of them in that way.

And he was fast. He had always been fast. He dodged and twirled, using the fire around him as a distraction. He caught someone's flying knife with his teeth, lodging it free from the surprise grip, and using it to cut their aortas, killing them instantly.

"Sakura!" she turned back to Shikamaru and Ino, falling to her knees and raising her hands to heal, but she couldn't concentrate, she couldn't locate the poison in Shikamaru's body. Ino nodded her head. "You stay with him," and then she left.

"No, stop!" Ino was going to be killed too. She thought Ino meant to try to fight Sasuke, but Sakura saw now that she was keeping back, checking to see if any of the wounded were still alive. They weren't. Sasuke continued his slaughter. His enemies cried out in battle as they charged, but he was silent and ruthless. There was fire everywhere. Terrible and disfigured as he was, he was still graceful and sure in his movements. He was a demon straight from hell. Immortal.

She attempted again to try to locate the poison inside Shikamaru. It had already reached his heart. She tried to pull it out and keep the blood flowing in the correct direction at the same time, but it was slipping. She was losing her grip on the poison. Her hands were shaking too much.

Some ninja with water based ninjutsu were trying to attack Sasuke, dousing him with water. It streaked the blood and soot on his skin, but Sasuke would just create more fire that seemed to burn everything no matter what it was. He was too powerful. The water just made a better current for his Chidori anyway. He defeated every enemy that came to him. He kept going, on and on until the only one left for him to kill was Ino.

Ino was turned away from him, knelt on the ground over a dead body. He must have sensed her life somehow as she became his new focus. Ino turned to meet him, blocking the knife in his teeth with her own. He spun, getting his leg up for a kick that would have been too fast for Ino to block. Afraid for Ino's life, Sakura hadn't notice when Shikamaru pushed himself up, and threw his chakra infused blade. It cut Sasuke's leg off cleanly before the kick landed its mark. In the middle of Sasuke's spin, he let out a breath of fire to keep himself upright, then turned his head to them instead.

Sakura covered Shikamaru with her body as a giant hot flame scorched the air above her. Sasuke had missed and she spared one second to think of it before returning her attention to Shikamaru. She was losing him. The effort he put into his chakra infused knife had spread the poison even further. She wasn't going to get it all out before his heart failed.

Sasuke swayed on one leg, his energy seeming to have run out as well and then fell to the ground, landing on his back. Shikamaru's life slipped away under her hands, and Ino rose, approached Sasuke with her knife, about to bury it into his heart.

Abandoning Shikamaru, for he was gone, she knew he was gone, Sakura scrambled to her feet, trying to stop Ino. "Ino! Get back!"

But it was too late, Sasuke had brought up the stump of one of his missing arms, letting his Lighting Release shoot in an impenetrable bar of light that struck through Ino's chest. Sakura has seen Sasuke kill with the move so many times before. She knew Ino was dead when her body fell into her arms, but she still gripped her, searching for her pulse with her chakra. "No!" She sobbed. Ino lay limp against her, and she felt all the regret of their friendship. This was her fault.

It was all her fault.

In the midst of her dismay, there was still that pull in her brain, the need and desire to try to fix things. It was the only thing keeping her from drowning in her despair. She had a job to do. She had to help the wounded.

But the only one still alive here was the mangled and deformed villain laying before her. She gently laid Ino's dead body down and crawled over to Sasuke.

He wasn't breathing. As her eyes fell upon him, she saw that his throat was too swollen from the hanging to allow air through his lungs, though the rope had long since burned away. He hadn't been breathing this entire time. His heart was still beating. She thought she could see it, ramming against his thin chest, pumping the blood out of his femoral artery from his severed leg and onto the ground. He was no longer coated in fire, but the soot of it was black on his skin, concealing any burn marks he could have had. Even the rain wasn't enough to wash it away.

He was still alive, so she was trained to help him. She didn't have any of her supplies. She would make due.

She found the head of the snake that had killed Shikamaru. Not worrying about poisoning Sasuke with it, she tore out a fang and stuck it in Sasuke's chest. He suddenly sucked in a whoosh of air through the hollow fang, filling his lungs with oxygen. His face was mildly shocked, like he never thought he would breathe again.

Sakura then tore a strip of her robe to tie around Sasuke's severed leg, tight, to stop anymore bleeding of his precious life. "I didn't ask for any of this!" she shouted to him, angry and despairing.

Sasuke turned his face to her, expression blank, yet still telling her everything. Oh yes, she did ask for it. She had told him to fight and fight he did. He had done this for her.

Her whole body was shaking as she checked him with her chakra. He had none left, she realized. In fact, the very remainder of what was giving him life, was draining with each breath he was taking. The energy it was taking for him to use his lungs was depleting his chakra even faster than when he was only simply bleeding. She tried to give him more. He should be able to absorb it from her by contact alone, but she was finding that his body was rejecting it. He needed it. His heart and lungs would need it. She tried harder, becoming desperate.

"You're not dying!" she shouted. He had been dying for all the time that she had known him. "Not yet! You're not finished! You're not finished. You killed everyone but me! I'm not dead yet! You still have to kill me!" Her voice changed, from anger to sobbing. "Take me with you! Don't leave! Take me with you!"

Sasuke's face jerked, and she thought she had lost him for a moment, blood spluttering from his lips. It took a few moments for her to realize that he was laughing at her. Air could no longer reach his throat, but his swollen blue lips mouthed out one word.

 _Bye..._

And Sasuke Uchiha died.


End file.
